Nigerian govt to start paying accrued pensions soon – PenCom

The National Pension Commission, PenCom, on Tuesday in Lagos assured that all outstanding pension liabilities would be paid soon.

Omolola Oloworaran, Acting Director-General, PenCom, gave the assurance at a workshop on the Online Enrolment Application for Pension Desk Officers, PDOs, of Treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDA, of the Federal Government.

Ms Oloworaran noted that concerted efforts by critical stakeholders had reached advanced stage, to clear all the Federal Government’s outstanding pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS.

She said that the efforts put in place would also provide lasting solutions that would address the problems of inadequate funding and delay in fund releases for the payment of accrued rights.

The acting director-general reiterated the commitment of PenCom to continuous service improvement in the pension industry, so that contributors and retirees received the best possible experience regarding pension matters.

“Although the current delay in release of funds by the Federal Government for the payment of retirees’ accrued rights negates the cardinal objective of the CPS of payment of retirement benefits as and when due.

“I would like to assure you that this situation will soon be resolved,” she said.

Ms Oloworaran also assured that the commission would continue to collaborate and work closely with the PDOs towards a successful 2024 Online Enrolment Exercise, scheduled to commence on Oct. 7 and subsequent periods.

She stated that the workshop kick-started the final preparations towards commencement of the 2024 online enrolment exercise for 2025 prospective retirees of Treasury-funded MDAs.

“Recall that, in line with its statutory mandate, PenCom conducts annual pre-retirement verification and enrolment exercise for employees of Federal Government Treasury-funded MDAs.

“That is employees who are scheduled to retire within the next fiscal year.

“The objective of the exercise is to obtain accurate information of prospective retirees that will enable PenCom determine their Accrued Pension Rights for budgetary provision by the Federal Government,” she said.

According to her, since year 2021, the commission has automated the retirees’ enrolment process with the deployment of the Online Enrolment Application.

Ms Oloworaran noted that the online enrolment application had the capabilities to register, verify, and enrol prospective retirees of Treasury-funded MDAs.

She explained that the Application had four modules namely: Retiree Module, MDA Module, PFA Module and PenCom Module.

“As indicated, the Application was designed with the MDA Module that enables the PDOs to upload information of retirees/prospective retirees.

“Therefore, in recognition of the significant role of the PDOs in the retirees’ enrolment process, the commission deems it necessary to organise annual workshops for the PDOs.

“Indeed, workshops like this are integral to the commission’s mandate and commitment to enhancing the knowledge and building the capacity of stakeholders in the pension industry,” she said.

According to the acting director-general, the objective of the workshop is to train the PDOs with the requisite knowledge on the relevant modules of the enrolment application.

Ms Oloworaran noted that, specifically, the workshop would focus on addressing the gaps observed in the previous exercises and enlighten PDOs on the modalities for the upcoming enrolment exercise for 2025 prospective retirees.

She added that PenCom held the physical workshop to provide PDOs with the necessary hands-on training that would enable them tackle the operational and technical challenges encountered during the enrolment process.

The PenCom boss said: “I, therefore, urge you all to actively participate and ask questions as well as seek further clarifications, where necessary, so as to ensure proper understanding.

“Let me also state that the commission is not oblivious of the challenges being experienced occasionally with the Enrolment Application due to downtimes.

“It is important to note that these downtimes mostly occur during the last minute rush by retirees and relevant stakeholders to meet the enrolment deadline.

“The commission is committed to providing support to PDOs during those few periods of downtimes.

“I am particularly pleased to inform you that the commission has already engaged a Consultant to design and develop a new Enrolment Application.

“An application that will not only address these issues, but also provide users with a more friendly and seamless experience during the enrolment process.”