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By Folasade Orimolade, FRCN
The National Pension Commission has made a recovery of over twenty four billion naira since 2012 from employers who failed to remit pension deductions of their employees.
The Director General of PENCOM, Hajya Aisha Dahir-Umar made this known in a message to the 2023 Conference for Journalists in Abuja.
The Director General who was represented by the Head of Corporate Communications, Abdulkadir Dahiru said the sum was made up of twelve point four billion naira in principal contributions and twelve billion naira in penalties from the defaulting employers.
Hajya Dahir-Umar explained that PENCOM’s proactive regulatory approach strengthened the oversight and governance of pension funds which now stands at sixteen point seven trillion naira.
According to her, Pension assets have risen to 1.77 trillion in the first half of 2023 from N14.99 trillion at the end of June 2023.
Membership also increased by 146,920 new contributors from 9.86million members as of the end of 2022 to over 10million members as of June 2023″
The Director General mentioned the creation of the Consumer Protection Department as Pencom’s initiative to prioritise service delivery “and provide our Retirement Savings Account holders with the care and attention they rightfully deserve”
In a presentation by the Pension Fund Operators of Nigeria, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oguche Agudah who spoke on Improving Accessibility and Service Delivery in RSA Mortgage Financing said the introduction of the 20% of Retired Savings Account for mortgage payment was capable of creating the catalyst to grow the housing financing significantly.
Mr.Oguche, represented by Mr.Akinbola Akintola said the initiative required more publicity, better engagement with developers and the Government as well as improving the process with better technology.
He said so far over three billion naira has been released to Retired Savings Account holders for mortgage down payment.
