PenCom recovers N6.73bn unremitted pension funds

The recovery of outstanding pension contributions programme instituted by PenCom a few years back is paying off as some N6.73 billion pension assets have been recovered from various employers who were fraudulently keeping them.
PenCom largely engaged consultants to recover these funds that would have been kept fraudulently by employers while denying employees the benefits of the contributory pension scheme. But there are still several billions to be recovered as a lot of employers are still not remitting deducted pension funds.
The update on the recovery of outstanding pension contributions and interest penalty from defaulting employers was contained in the PenCom 2015 first quarter report of the commission.
“During the quarter, the sum of N540.94 million representing principal contributions of N145.85 million and penalty of N395.09 million was recovered. This brought the total recoveries made to date to N6.73 billion”, the report said.
The report also indicated that six states moved into the contributory pension scheme (CPS) bracket and several others are making concerted attempts to sign on.
Giving the update on the Implementation of the CPS by state governments, the report indicated that “as at the end of the first quarter, 2015, 26 state governments had enacted laws on the CPS, while the remaining 10 were at the Bills stage.”
 The report further shows that 8 out of the 36 states had commenced remittance of contributions into the RSAs of their employees.
Similarly, 6 states have commenced the funding of their Retirement Benefit Bond Redemption Fund Accounts (RBBRFAs). The states include; Lagos, Rivers, Niger, Osun, Osun and Delta states.
The update on compliance by the private sector, the report indicated that “during the quarter, the commission received 1,050 applications for issuance of Compliance Certificates, out of which 840 employers were issued the certificates while the remaining applications were rejected on the ground that they did not meet the requirements.”