The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has revealed that 26 states in Nigeria are yet to start remitting full pension for their workers in line with the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Data made available to journalists recently showed that only 11 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have starting remitting pension into the retirement savings accounts (RSAs) of their employees.
The states that have started remitting pension under the CPS include Lagos, Anambra, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Jigawa and the FCT.
PenCom also disclosed that Osun’s remittances were inconsistent resulting in huge backlog of pension contributions while Ogun has huge arrears of unremitted pension contributions as the state has largely stopped remitting except for few state corporations, which is also inconsistent.
Delta is only remitting local government employees portion of the pension contributions while Anambra is only remitting state MDAs’ employees portion of the pension contributions.
Data analysed by Daily Trust showed that 14 states have enacted laws on contributory pension in their states but were yet to commence remittances.
These states are Adamawa, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kano, Kogi, Nasarawa, Oyo, Sokoto, Taraba, Abia and Niger.
PenCom explained that Niger State suspended implementation of the CPS in April 2015 but amended the law in 2017 to recommence the CPS.
Zamfara, Kebbi and Rivers states are remitting only the employees portion of the pension contributions while Imo, Benue, Kwara, Bauchi and Niger have remittances from only self-funded agencies.
Data also showed that eight states are still at the stage of contributory pension bills and until the bills are passed, they cannot implement the CPS.
The states at the bill stage are Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Katsina, Kwara, Plateau and Akwa Ibom.
PenCom revealed that Yobe is the only state in Nigeria that is yet to implement the contributory pension scheme in any form.
Speaking at a conference in Uyo recently, the Director General of PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the contributory pension is working and pension funds have risen to N7.78 trillion as at the end of February 2018, from N7.52 trillion recorded at the end of December, 2017.
Represented by the Legal Adviser, Mr. Mohammed Sani, Dahir-Umar, said the pension assets will rise more as the commission plans to open up the pension scheme to the informal sector through the introduction of the micro pension scheme.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
