The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced that it will begin digital verification and enrollment of prospective retirees in the South-West region by the end of the first week of July 2021.
Anyim Nyerere, Commissioner, Technical, PenCom, disclosed this during a workshop for Pension Desk Officers (PDOs) of Treasury-Funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government on the Online Enrolment Application (OEA) for prospective retiree enrollment.
Nyerere stated that the verification and enrollment process would begin once the pension desk officers had received adequate training on the operation of the OEA, noting that the training would provide the PDOs with the knowledge to guide prospective retirees through the information on the online enrolment application form.
According to him, the national pre-enrollment exercise will begin in the coming weeks, capturing those who are due to be captured this fiscal year and those who missed it due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. He also stated that the PDOs would ensure that the information submitted by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for retirees is accurate and in accordance with the online enrolment guidance notes.
“This exercise will provide them with the necessary knowledge on how the Retiree Registration Module (RRM) operates in order for the OEA to be implemented smoothly,” he said.
Nyerere also added that the online enrollment application could register, verify, and enroll workers due to retire between January and December 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic, according to the commissioner, prompted the adoption of digital verification for employees under the FG treasury-funded MDAs, noting that the application can also compute retiree benefits.
“PenCom regrets its inability to conduct physical annual pre-retirement enrolment due to the need to comply with necessary safety measures as directed by the government. The commission decided to conduct this exercise in order to avoid interfering with the validation and determination of future retirees’ accrued pension liabilities for government budgetary purposes. As a result, the online platform enables future retirees to log on to the website and register with their RRM details,” he added.
Abdulrahman Salem, Head of Contribution and Bond Redemption Department, stated in his remarks that physical verification and enrollment may not be carried out completely but will be limited.
He stated that retirees would be able to register from anywhere in the world, and that their data and information would be transmitted to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in real-time online.
“The only thing they will have to do at the PFA is go for data recapture to ensure they are the ones, and this can be done at any branch office of the PFA’s that are spread throughout Nigeria,” he added.
Source: The Guardian
