In response to the plight of retirees, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) last year successfully canvassed for a plan that would ensure full implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in all states of the federation. The plan was incorporated into the 2014 Pension Law signed by President Goodluck Jonathan in July this year. The new law repealed the 2004 Pension Act and addressed its many shortcomings.
The 2014 Pension Law sets out a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for the administration and payment of retirement benefits to workers. It also provides sanctions for non-compliance. In spite of this, reports indicate that pension contributions of about 130,000 workers under the CPS in the country were not remitted to their respective Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) every month, as required under the law.
This is disturbing. This flagrant violation of the pension law is a criminal offence. It is instructive that under the law, all states are expected to bring their workers into the scheme, and remit their contributions to their RSAs every month. Public and private companies with fifteen or more workers are also expected to do the same.
PenCom is also empowered under the law to institute criminal proceedings against employers who have records of not remitting pension contributions of their employees within the stipulated time. Stiff sanctions are provided for organisations and individuals convicted of infractions against the law, including a 10-year jail term for persons found to have looted or mismanaged retirees’ funds.
We urge PenCom to strictly enforce the law on non-remittance of workers’ contributions to their RSAs now. Latest figures on quarterly RSA registration from National Pension Commission show that although a total of 6.12 million registered workers were recorded on the database in the second quarter of 2014, up from 5.04 million in 2012 on the average, the accounts of 130,000 workers were not being funded by their employers.
Although the compliance level is encouraging, total compliance should be enforced. For instance, out of 6.02 million RSAs that reportedly existed in the first quarter of this year, only about 5.78 million of the accounts were funded. But last year, Pencom said it recovered N3.33 billion from employers who had been deducting monthly pension contributions from their workers’ salaries without remitting the money to their RSAs.
In 2012, the commission said it employed the services of recovery agents after it established that no fewer than 15,427 employers had consistently defaulted in remitting workers’ contributions for two years, between January 2010 and December 2011.
Considering the untold hardship that pensioners experience after retirement, with some of them collapsing and dying on long queues during attempts to collect their pensions, PenCom should not relent in its efforts to ensure that all employers covered by the new Pension Law remit the contributions of their workers to their RSAs. The organisations which refuse to do this should be visited with the stipulated sanctions to send a clear message that defaulters will face dire consequences for the criminal conduct. This is necessary to ensure that the scheme does not fail.
It is good news that by virtue of the new Pension Law, anyone who embezzles pension funds or shortchanges workers’ retirement savings will be punished severely. But, enforcement of the law is of paramount importance to deter intending offenders.
A recent report on compliance status regarding the contributory pension scheme across the states indicates that 21 states have enacted their pension laws. Twelve out of the 21 states have reportedly commenced remittances of employees’ contributions into their Retirement Savings Accounts, while 14 others are said to be at various stages of passing the bill into law.
The absence of a workable pension scheme is regarded as one of the main causes of corruption in both the public and private sectors of the economy, as workers oftentimes defraud their organisations to save for the “rainy day”. The frequency of such fraud, especially in the public service, is disturbing. The looting of the Police pension fund remains mindboggling. The new contributory pension scheme was put in place to guard against the abuse that was prevalent under the old scheme.
It needs restating that the key objective of a contributory pension scheme is to ensure that retirees have something to fall back on when they can no longer work. But sadly, retirement has become an awful experience for most pensioners, especially at the state level, apparently due to the absence of a safe and effective scheme.
It is necessary that employers comply strictly with the new scheme. They should also abide by the new increase in the minimum rate of pension contributions by employees and employers, from the present 15 percent to 20. The new law provides for 12 percent contribution by employers, and eight percent by employees. Strict compliance is essential for the scheme to work.
Figures from PenCom also show that many private companies are yet to comply with the new pension law. Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) want the government to do more to bring all employers and workers on board to build a critical mass for the contributions. Their call for nation-wide implementation of the contributory pension scheme should be supported by all stakeholders. The future of Nigerian workers is at stake.
THE SUN
Comments
Post a Comment