Recovery Agents, Whistleblower Policy Boosting Pension Remittance By Defaulting Employers- Operators

The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria on Tuesday said the deployment of Recovery Agents by the National Pension Commission and the whistleblower policy it recently introduced is aiding compliance of pension remittance by many employers.

Before now, there has been several cases of non-pension remittances by many employers in the country.

However, at a virtual session organised by PenoP on Tuesday tagged “Ask me Anything”, the Chief Executive Officer, Oguche Agudah noted that the strategies employed by PenCom is yielding results as many employers are complying with the pension law.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) had disclosed that it has recovered a total of N24.53bn from 34 defaulting employers who failed to remit deducted pension contributions to their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) as required by law.

Speaking on the development, Agudah said “PenCom goes after these employers using recovery agents when they notice that they no longer contribute and ensure they are fined and also remit the outstanding amount which has not been remitted for their employees.”

Also speaking on the micro pension scheme, he said the scheme was solely designed for the informal sector so people without formal employment can as well plan for their future.

He noted that “Contributors under the Micro pension scheme can withdraw up to 40 per cent contingency fund from their RSA which defines the flexibility of the scheme.”

Also responding to an enquiry on the RSA mortgage, he said though there are complaints on how little the amount is, people have started accessing the money for mortgage and RSA holders.

He also urged them to look at their National Housing Fund as an alternative to augment the amount they are able to get as equity for mortgage.