The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria and the Joint Committee for Establishment and Public Service of the Senate and House of Representatives Pension Committees have agreed to review the lump sum payments made to retirees.
The agreement was announced on Monday after the third annual PenOp-NASS retreat in Lagos.
The lawmakers and Pension Operators stated that the retirees’ lump sum needed to be reviewed to address adequacy issues and contributor agitation.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the National Pension Commission mandates that pension managers pay retirees 25% of their total Retirement Savings Account (RSA) upon retirement under the current Pension Reform Act.
The two parties agreed that PenOp should commission a survey to be handled by a third party to assess the level of satisfaction with the scheme.
Stakeholders insist that the National Assembly form a task force to engage state governments and devise innovative ways to encourage state governments to comply.
According to the two parties, massive public education is required to drive compliance among state governments to expose them to the benefits of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
They also stated that the state government should be educated on how to leverage pension assets to facilitate infrastructure development.
They agreed that pension operators should take the issue of documentation seriously to avoid putting pensioners through unnecessary stress to access their benefits.
Since the 2004 pension reform, the pension industry has continued to show impressive growth across key performance indicators, according to operators and legislators.
Source: NAN
