BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
PENSION operators of Nigeria, PenOp, have accused state governments of not funding the contributory Pension scheme, thereby putting the life of the civil servants in the states at risk after retirement.

Chairman of PenOp, Mr. Dave Uduanu, who spoke at a one day seminar organized by National Pension Commission, PenCom, in a Enugu, lamented that out of the 36 States in the country, not more than 8 States can effectively be considered as near full-compliant to the contributory pension scheme.

Delivering a paper on “Sustaining the contributory scheme– The role of stokeholders”, Mr. Uduanu who is also the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Pension Alliance Limited, said states needed to buy into the scheme fully by funding the accounts of their employees for the scheme sustainability.

According to him, “the acceptance and participation level in the scheme by the respective States and Local Government cannot be said to be satisfactory. Of the 36 States in the country, not more than 8 States (22%) can effectively be considered as near full-compliant. A greater percentage of the States that have passed the enabling Pension Bill are not funding.

Few that commenced funding stopped several months ago. The pension bill for some States serves as a platform to source for PFA investors in their proposed State Bond. The States need to buy into the scheme fully by funding the accounts of their employees for the scheme sustainability.”

“Another key stakeholder whose role represents a significant sensitivity test on the sustainability of the scheme is the Operator. The Operator here refers to the PFA, (whether Closed or Open), the PFC and the Custodians. The need for the Operators to continually improve on their service delivery cannot be over-stressed.

This remains as the only way to retain the confidence of not only the Contributor but all other stakeholders in the industry. The level of insider abuse in the industry cannot be said to be a threat for now. But where it is not nipped in the bud, it might escalate as any other form of vice. It is reasonably assumed that at the completion of the consolidation exercise, the vibrancy of the industry will over shadow any tendency towards insider abuse.”