The National Pension Commission says it has recovered N24.15bn non-remitted pension savings of employees from defaulting employers.
It disclosed this in its fourth quarter report for 2022.
The report stated that, “Following the issuance of demand notices to defaulting employers whose pension liabilities were established by the Recovery Agents, the sum of N853.4m representing principal contribution (N187.37m) and penalty (N666.03m) was recovered from 25 defaulting employers during the quarter under review.
“Meanwhile, 34 defaulting employers have been recommended for appropriate legal action, after all administrative steps taken to make them comply failed.
“From the commencement of the recovery exercise in June 2012 to 31 December 2022, a total of N24.15m comprising of principal contributions (N12.25bn) and penalties (N11.9bn) was recovered from defaulting employers.”
The Director-General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, stated that despite the overwhelming head-winds in the global economic climate and the country’s challenging macroeconomic environment, the pension fund assets under management increased by N568.33bn from N14.42tn as 30 September 2022, to N14.99tn as of 31 December 2022.
She said, “This laudable performance, in the growth of the AuM, points to the fact that the pension industry will continue to deliver value and benefit to its stakeholders and the nation’s economy.
“During the reporting period, the commission stepped up its efforts to ensure sustainable investment by pension funds in alternative asset classes and structured infrastructure projects that meet the strict requirements of the pension fund investments regulation.
“We continued our efforts to ensure further diversification of investments in pension fund portfolio assets.”
According to PenCom’s report, a total of 69,889 new Retirement Savings Accounts were registered and the associated PINs issued to employees in different sectors, in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It added that it received 1,100 applications from private sector organisations for the issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates.
The applications were processed and a total of 957 PCC were issued to organisations that met the requirements, while 143 applications were processed.
A total of 4,715 micro pension contributors were registered during the period under review by 18 Pension Fund Administrators, which brought the total number of registered participants to 89,327 as of December, 2022.
On its awareness campaign, PenCom said its second phase of the media campaign commenced in October, 2022 largely using the same media channels utilised during the first phase of the campaign.
The report said, “From 1 October to 31 December 2022, a total of 26,035 RSA transfer requests were submitted by PFAs on behalf of RSA holders. Furthermore, a total of 34,261 RSA transfer requests initiated by RSA holders will be processed in the fourth RSA transfer Quarter 2022, which will be concluded in the first week of January 2023.
“This covers RSA transfer requests submitted by PFAs between 1 September 2022 and 30 November 2022 and, are therefore, eligible for transfer in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Successfully processed RSAs will be transferred to their new PFAs, along with their associated pension assets. The total value of the pension assets of transferred RSAs will be determined at the conclusion of the quarter activities.”
SOURCE: THE PUNCH
