Stakeholders in the pension industry have charged public and private employers of labor to fully embrace and commit to the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, of their workers as stipulated by law.
They spoke on Saturday at a virtual training organized by the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, PenOp, for members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents, NAIPCO, in Lagos.
Omagbitse Barrow, a Financial Expert, urged employers who had yet to register their workers under the scheme to do so as expected.
Barrow explained that employers must remit their workers’ monthly contributions promptly to secure life for the employees after retirement.
He noted that the key areas in the pension system included: compliance, contributions, investments, service support and withdrawal.
According to him, the notable change between the CPS and DBS is that both the employee and employer are contributors and the higher the contribution, the higher the fund.
Mr Barrow explained that lack of proper understanding on the mode of withdrawal of pension funds posed a challenge to the growth of the industry.
The finance expert urged the public to seek understanding on the withdrawal modes during registration process, so that they would be better informed on the exit options which include Annuity and Programmed Withdrawal.
On his part, Oguche Agudah, Chief Executive Officer of PenOp, noted that pension was a delicate matter and so, there was need for proper understanding of the industry.
“People are very emotional when it comes to their pensions; any change or story about their pensions getting lost, stolen, embezzled, or loosing value causes a lot of negative emotions amongst contributors.
“Pensions and investments are technical issues, so we have a responsibility to break down salient aspects of the scheme and pensions in general to the public in simple, easy to read and understandable language,” he said.
NAN
