Retirement Savings Account (RSA) balances can now be withdrawn en-bloc by retirees who are eligible for a monthly pension of less than N10,000, which is a third of the current national minimum wage, even if their RSA balances are more than N550,000.
Obiora Ibeziako, the head of PenCom’s benefits and insurance department, made this known while presenting on “The Administration of Retirement Benefits Under the Micro Pension Plan” during a workshop for media in Lagos.
He claimed that the Commission had revised the rules governing en-bloc payments to retirees, allowing those who had received less than N550,000 at retirement to take their whole retirement balance amount as opposed to receiving payments on a monthly basis.
Ibeziako stated, “There is a new guideline that says you are allowed to go with the amount in your account if your RSA balance cannot offer one-third of the minimum wage. You may withdraw all of your savings if your monthly pension does not equal N10,000, which is one-third of the current N30,000 minimum wage.
He explained that the decision was made to evaluate the en-bloc payment, which would amount to around N1.6m, due to the decline in the value of the currency.
In a related development, the Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, represented by the head of corporate communications, Mr. Abdulqadir Dahir. said the workshop’s theme, “Increasing informal sector involvement in the Contributory Pension Scheme: The argument for Micro Pension Plan,” was in line with the Commission’s goal of broadening CPS coverage.
She stated that the goal was to include Nigerians working in the informal sector and those who are self-employed in the CPS through the Micro Pension Plan. Strategic initiatives to advance the Micro Pension Plan continue to be one of the Commission’s key areas of concentration, she said.
