PenCom Pays N186bn To Beneficiaries Of 59,057 Deceased Employees

The National Pension Commission(PenCom)said that it approved the payment of N7.66bn as death benefits to the beneficiaries of 1,936 deceased employees.

These beneficiaries brought the total number of deceased employees from both public and private sectors to 59,057 while the amount paid moved the total payments of death benefits to N186.21bn,

The Commission also said 331,003 Retirement Saving Account holders who temporarily lost their jobs were paid N116.88bn as of the third quarter of 2019.

The commission disclosed these in its third quarter report of 2019 published on it’s website.

According to PenCom, the approval was granted for payment of N3.67bn to 6,862 RSA holders who were under the age of 50 years and were disengaged from work and unable to secure another job within four months of disengagement.

Recall that the pension regulator in an interview with THE WHISTLER had said contributors who lose their job’s during the Covid-19 Pandemic would be allowed to draw 25 per cent of savings from their Retirement Savings Account.

This was in line with Section 7(2) of the PRA 2014 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 which provides that an employee, who is disengaged from employment before the age of 50 years and is unable to secure another employment within four months of such disengagement may make a withdrawal of not more than 25% from their RSA.

The report noted that the cumulative total number of RSA holders who were paid benefits for temporary loss of job was 331,003 and were paid a total of N116.88bn being 25 per cent of the balances of their RSA’s.

A further analysis showed that the private sector accounted for 95.17 per cent of those who benefitted from these payments while the public sector accounted for 4.83 per cent, the pension regulator said.