By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

OF all the six states in the South-West, only Lagos State has fully implemented the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS while Oyo and Ondo states are yet to commence at all.

The commission implored states in the zone yet to complete necessary processes for full implementation of the CPS to renew their commitment and fast track action on all outstanding issues to avail their employees of its many benefits

Acting Director General of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who spoke at the opening of South-west zonal office of the commission in Lagos, told the gathering that states in the South-West Zone have made reasonable progress in the adoption and implementation of the CPS.

According to her, “the choice of Lagos State to host our South-West Zonal office stemmed not only from its pre-eminent position as the economic nerve centre of the country but was also justified by its record of being one of the pioneers in implementation of the CPS, having enacted its law in 2007. The state had fully implemented the CPS with a total of 45,730 employees registered and pension contributions remittance of N46.50billion as at July, 2013. Furthermore, the state has issued retirement benefit bonds of N18.9billion to its retirees and these bonds have been fully redeemed and proceeds paid into the employees’ individual Retirement Saving Accounts, RSAs; while 2,242 employees from the state have retired under the scheme as at August, 2013.”

“In the case of Osun State, it adopted the CPS and enacted its law in 2009. It had also made significant progress in its implementation of the CPS, having so far registered 45,106 employees under the scheme. It had also remitted N4.15billion as pension contributions, while the sum of N1.90billion had been remitted into the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account.

However, the State is yet to renew the group life insurance policy for its employees in 2013 and had also not carried out an actuarial valuation to determine accrued pension rights of employees.  With regards to Ogun State, it adopted the CPS and enacted its law in 2007. It had also made significant progress in its implementation of the CPS having so far registered 24,902 employees under the scheme and remitted N10.90billion as pension contributions, while the sum of N3billion had been remitted into the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account held at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“However, the state is yet to put in place a group life insurance policy for its employees. In the case of Ekiti State, it enacted its law on the CPS in January, 2011 and has also 37,676 employees registered under the Scheme. Ekiti has conducted an actuarial valuation to determine pension liabilities under the old scheme and put in place a Group Life Insurance Policy for its employees.

However, the state is yet to commence remittance of pension contributions into employees RSAs with PFAs. Oyo State, has enacted its law on the CPS in January, 2010. However, it is yet to commence the full implementation of the CPS.

Necessary processes

“Ondo State has only drafted a Bill on the CPS, a copy of which had been reviewed by the Commission and comments duly forwarded to the State. I therefore wish to use this occasion to passionately appeal to the States in the Zone that have not completed necessary processes for full implementation of the CPS to renew their commitment and fast track action on all outstanding issues in order to avail their employees of its many benefits. The Commission’s Zonal Office is positioned to facilitate the States’ full compliance with the CPS and provide necessary guidance.”

Why we open zonal offices: Explaining why the commission set up zonal offices, the Acting Director-General said c the ommission embarked on the establishment of Zonal Offices in all the six geo-political zones of the country in a bid to decentralize its activities and bring it closer to the contributors and retirees. She said “With our presence in the South-West Zone now, we expect all stakeholders to avail themselves of our services by visiting our office to make enquiries, lodge complaints, and seek enlightenment on the Contributory Pension Scheme.

Due to our renewed focus on efficient service delivery, we seek to reduce the need for contributors and retirees to travel from various parts of the country to Abuja for the singular reason of accessing our services. In addition, our presence would facilitate closer interaction with the States’ Pension offices by assisting them to comply with the CPS. The South-West Zonal Office has a mandate to effectively extend our services to all the six states in the zone, namely; Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo.”

Total pension assets

Mrs. Anohu-Amazu said the commission had remained steadfast in the implementation of the CPS such that within these few years of existence some modest achievements have been realized, saying “Foremost among such achievements is the consistent payment of retirement benefits to all employees who retired under the scheme since 2007 without the characteristic bottlenecks experienced in the past.

There is also the generation of a large pool of investible funds of over N3.50 trillion invested in various financial instruments, which marks a phenomenal growth when compared with huge estimated pension liabilities in the public sector prior to the reform in 2004. Also, 5.61million contributors have been registered into the CPS since inception. Furthermore, the process of a major amendment to the PRA 2004 is currently at the final stages of consideration by the National Assembly.

“In addition, the Commission  recently organized an Interactive Workshop in order to acquaint Judges of the Superior Courts with the basic understanding of the CPS to enable them adjudicate on pension matters effectively. The Commission has also established a Call Centre which would be open to the public in October, 2013, in order to enhance its service delivery through an efficient complaints resolution process.

Significant achievements

Perhaps one of the significant achievements recorded by the Commission is the reason for our gathering here today, which is the establishment of Zonal Offices in all the six geo-political zones of the country.

“As part of ongoing efforts at enhancing contributors’ satisfaction, the Commission is currently exploring the possibility of allowing contributors to utilize part of their Retirement Savings Account balances to part-finance the acquisition of low-cost houses.

It is our expectation that when they eventually come on stream, these facilities would be availed to States that have fully implemented the Scheme. The Commission had also reviewed its Investment Regulations with a view to facilitating the investment of pension funds towards reducing the huge infrastructure gap in the country.

It is worthy to mention that already several states in the federation have so far benefited from the pool of funds generated by the CPS through the issuance of development bonds. As at June, 2013, the value of pension funds’ investment in State Government Bonds was N169.73billion.