FG: We Have  Cleared All Pension Arrears, Including Accrued Rights of Workers

•Mulls reintroduction of gratuity payment

Ebere Nwoji

The federal government said it has cleared all outstanding pension arrears under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), including all outstanding accrued rights of its retired workers.

In addition, the government also said it  has concluded plans to  reintroduce payment of gratuity to retiring workers .

The Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Ms  Omolola Oloworaran,  who stated these yesterday, at  the Workshop on the Workings of the Contributory Pension Scheme  for employers/ Pension desk officers across the geo- political zones in the country, said PenCom has also embarked on a number of reforms to carry out President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive on ensuring coverage of every Nigerian with pension plan.

She said this has seen the Commission instituting what she described as,  “Pension Revolution 2.0” initiative.

She said under the initiative,  the commission had concluded an arrangement with the head of service to reintroduce payment of gratuity to retiring workers.

She said the Commission was moving to the next phase  of the  pension revolution which has to do with  instituting the Minimum Pension Protection Plan  that would ensure that  at some point,  government would  be defining minimum pension that every  retired worker should earn irrespective of what his RSA can afford  so that retirees who currently earn very low pension benefits according to what they have in their RSA could   earn more in line with the government’s Minimum Pension Protection plan.

She said henceforth, retirees would start receiving their benefits the very month following their retirement month .

She also said the Minimum Pension Protection initiation would commence before the end of this year.

Omolola, at the workshop organised by PenCom in collaboration with the

National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), said the federal government has cleared 18 months of accrued pension  rights of its workers having paid up to October this year and was ready to pay November and December  this year as well.

Pension Accrued Rights   represent benefits due to the government employees before the enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2004.

The Act states that this should be paid into  the retiring worker’s  Retirement Savings Account (RAS ) before the worker starts receiving both his lump sum benefits and the monthly benefits.

Over the years, due to the inability of the government to release the Accrued Rights of its  workers, the  workers were  owed arrears of pension.

The development threw no small  spanner to the progressive wheel of the CPS and was responsible for much agitations by workers and retirees, especially the Nigeria Police Force for exit from CPS.

Speaking further, the PenCom DG said pension stakeholders in the country have moved from an era defined by unpaid entitlements and uncertainty to a new order anchored on transparency, sustainability, and inclusiveness.

 “Today, more than 10 million Nigerians from public service employees to private sector workers, and even artisans and the self-employed under the Personal Pension Plan, are covered under the CPS.

 .“Pension assets have grown to over N25 trillion, fueling national development through strategic investments, while also securing regular monthly pensions for over 552,000 retirees and lump sum benefits for an additional 291,735 retirees.

:In total, more than 844,000 retirees across both public and private sectors now enjoy retirement benefits that are steady, reliable, and transparent,” she stated.

 She said with the ongoing reforms embarked by PenCom, the commission  has rolled out key interventions that were  changing lives.

 She highlighted some of the reforms as “Enhancing pensions for over 241,000 retirees, representing 80 percent of those under Programmed Withdrawal.”

 She said the reforms also included the institution  of minimum capital and governance requirements for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Custodians  to ensure greater financial stability, service delivery, and technological resilience as well as  introduction  of Free Health Insurance for Retirees low income retirees beginning later this year.