PENCOM assets hit N4.6 trillion

By Aminu Imam

The National Pension Commission (Pen¬Com), said it has gen¬erated over N4.6 trillion in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), since incep¬tion in 2004.

Speaking at the opening cer¬emony of a two-day workshop on the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA) with the theme: “New Pension Act 2014, its Implications and Obligations to both Employers and Em¬ployees in Nigeria” organised in collaboration with Lagos Council of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Direc¬tor-General of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, said the coverage of the CPS in¬cluded employees in the public service of the federal, states and local governments as well as the private sector organisa-tions with three or more em¬ployees.

Represented by Mr. Mo¬hammed Bello Umar, the Com¬mission’s Head of Compliance and Enforcement Department, she recalled that the pension reform started in 2004 with the passage of PRA 2004, which provided for a uniform pension system for both public and pri¬vate sectors.

According to her, “the CPS has been successfully imple¬mented since then and the fund under management has grown to about N4.6 trillion while membership is over six mil¬lion.

She explained that the cov¬erage of the CPS include em¬ployees in the public service of the federal, states and local governments as well as the pri¬vate sector organisations with three or more employees.

The PRA 2014, she added, strengthened the powers of the commission to perform its mandate of regulation and supervision of all pension mat¬ters, stating that it would fur¬ther protect and create value for the contributor.

She said, “following the successful passage of the PRA 2014, PenCom is working towards significantly increas¬ing the membership of CPS by expanding the coverage to include the informal sector as well as ensuring that the pen¬sion assets are invested in ways that are most beneficial to the economy.”

(NAN)