The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has been charged by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to safeguard the safety and profitability of Nigeria’s N12.8 trillion pension assets.
Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), delivered the charge during the PenCom Special Day at the 2021 Lagos International Trade Fair (LITR) in Lagos.
“Nigeria’s pension assets have reached N12.8 trillion as of September 2021 and are continually expanding,” Mabogunje stated.
While this is a substantial sum of money, we ask PenCom to exert the closest oversight and monitoring possible to ensure the assets’ safety and profitability.
She praised PenCom’s leadership for its creative tactics targeted at boosting pension asset coverage, transparency, and profitability.
“However, we advise PenCom’s management to focus more on technology and effective sensitization in order to achieve broader coverage, acceptance, and compliance among the formal and informal sectors.”
“There is still so much room to gain additional coverage of workers in the system,” Mabogunje added, citing the 9.44 million registrants on the contributory pension scheme as of September 2021.
She went on to say that the trade show provided PenCom with an excellent opportunity to interact with hundreds of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that had yet to be included in the country’s pension system.
Mr. Babatunde Alayande, Head, PENCOM, South-West Office, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) on March 28, 2019, to extend the contributory pension program to the informal sector.
“The MPP will ensure that all eligible Nigerians are covered for pensions and have access to other incentives,” he said.
