Stakeholders call for states’ participation in contributory pension

Stakeholders in the pension sector have called on the subnational governments to actively participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

They made the call in Abuja, yesterday, at a pension industry roundtable organised by Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) in collaboration with the National Pensions Commission supported by Tangerine Apt Pension, and NPLC Pension tagged “Strategic Dialogue to Enhance Private Sector Participation in Pension Scheme.”

In his presentation, Mr. Arinze Ononwu, Head, Investment Department, at the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited (NUPEMCO), noted that out of 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, 25 enacted laws on contributory pension scheme out of which only 10 are currently funding accrued rights.

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“There is an urgent need for collaboration with the state governments who have not enacted laws on contributory pension to do so,” he said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of NLPC Pension Fund Administrators, Samuel Abolarin, noted that while there is a need to bring in more states, there is also an urgent need to on-board Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to the Scheme

Represented by Idowu Muslim, the MD noted that many states do not believe in the benefits of the CPS, Hence the need for stakeholder sensitisation and collaboration.

Speaking further, he said there is a need to integrate young graduates into the Scheme as “Available statistics show that no fewer than 100,000 students graduate annually from Nigerian universities”

Earlier in his address the President of the ACCI, Al-Mujtaba Abubakar is organised to review the progress and challenges of the pension scheme in Nigeria as it is central to the future of the labour force In Nigeria, adding that the 2014 pensions reformed Act brought sanity to the industry and has resulted in accelerated growth and boosting the confidence of the masses.