Micro-pension contributors hit 30,000 in 7 months

The Micro Pension plan was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2019. It is aimed at extending pension coverage to the self-employed and persons working in the informal sector to drive financial inclusion and allow the target population to have a sustainable old age income after their retirement.

She said, “Total registration under the Plan has remained around 30,000 contributors as at 31 October 2019. The non-issuance of the Regulation on Fees Structure for the Plan has been the key challenge dragging its full implementation.

It is expected that the Regulation will be issued before January 2020, in which case we would see more drive in registering contributors under the Plan.” The PenCom boss further said the performance of the Commission during the year has been great – an A+ and that the facts are verifiable.

 “No doubt, PenCom is today the best financial regulator in the country for its achievement in regulating an industry from scratch to a world class financial force of more than N9.8 trillion, which is equivalent to about USD31 billion.

 “The management and staff of the Commission, who worked tirelessly and selflessly in providing all that is required for the continuous growth and safety of the industry, are a pride to this nation,” she said. According to her, investments have always been in strict compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014 and the Regulations on Investment of Pension Fund Assets issued by the Commission.

 She said, “Returns on investment have been generally fair and within acceptable ranges. However, the growing size of the assets and the CBN policy on Open Market Operations (OMO) bills require the industry to take a step back.

 “Then to start working towards driving the issuance of eligible instruments that would allow them invest in alternative assets for infrastructure and housing development. These efforts are still at the design stage, but are looking very promising,” Aisha noted.