No fewer than 2,084 retirees cannot be on monthly pension payments. And have left the Contributory Pension Scheme in the first quarter of 2022. The National Pension Commission disclosed this in its first quarterly report on ‘Enbloc Payment of Retirement Benefits. This says that the affected workers retired with less than N550,000 in their Retirement Savings Accounts with their respective Pension Fund Administrators. They had, therefore refunded all their contributions into the scheme, it added.
PenCom’s reports that, “During the quarter under review, the commission approved en bloc payment of retirement benefits to 2,084 retirees. Whose RSA balances were N550,000 or below and considered insufficient to procure programmed withdrawal. Or therefore, a retiree life annuity of a reasonable amount for an expected life span. Programmed withdrawal is the monthly pensions by the PFAs while annuity is monthly pensions. Which is by life insurance companies to retirees under the CPS.
According to the Pension Reform Act 2014, any worker with less than N550, 000. It is expected to give the total balance in the RSA by the PFA and subsequently allowed to quit the pension scheme. PenCom decried the attitude of companies deducting monthly contributions from their workers’ emoluments. However, failing to remit such to the workers’ RSAs in their respective PFAs.
PenOp noted that the system was relatively new, and most contributions had only emerged over the last 15 years. The Chief Executive Officer, PenOp, Oguche Agudah, said, “If the employer and employee have contributed consistently over this period of time. The funds in that individual’s RSA account would be sufficient to have a decent lump sum with enough funds remaining to earn a decent pension for life.”
-Punch.
