President Muhammadu Buhari has formally launched the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) for the informal sector of the economy.
Speaking during the launch held in Abuja on Thursday, President Buhari directed the Financial System Strategy 2020 to support the initiative within the framework of its activities especially as it relates to financial inclusion.
The MPP was designed to capture informal sector workers such as traders, farmers, mechanics, drivers, tailors and small businesses with less than three employees that were not fully captured in the mandatory contributory pension for the formal sector.
“Today, millions of traders, farmers and other entrepreneurs in various cottage industries are completely excluded from the different pension programmes in existence,” the President said.
The President said the MPP would guarantee that when informal sector workers retire, they could still “live in dignity and comfort.”
He encouraged Trade Associations, Unions, Non-Governmental Organizations and other stakeholders in the informal sector of the economy to join hands with the government and the pension industry to enlighten their members and the general public on the benefits of the Micro Pension Plan.
“In addition to this programme, we are also working tirelessly to sanitize some of the rot within the pension system we inherited. I want to assure all Nigerians that this government remains committed to resolving all pending issues on pension payment in the federal public sector despite the lean resources of the government,” he said.
The Acting Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Umar-Dahir, said MPP would reduce old-age poverty by 85 percent.
The PenCom boss said the enlistment of the informal sector into the pension savings net would boost the quantum of available long term investible funds that would galvanize national development efforts.
She said a prospective Micro Pension contributor is required to open a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) by completing a physical or electronic registration form with any Pension Funds Administrator (PFA).
“The contributors may make contributions daily, weekly, monthly or as may be convenient to them,” she said.
