By Victor Ahiuma-Young

NATIONAL Pension Commission, PenCom, as parts of its mandate of conducting public awareness, enlightenment and education on the establishment, operations and management of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, as stipulated in Section 23 (f) of the Pension Reform Act, PRA, 2014, has taken its drive for effective CPS administration to judges, and other judicial officers to facilitate the task of adjudication on pension matters by Justices and Judges of the apex and lower courts.

At a workshop organised by the commission and hosted by the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, Director General of PenCom, Chinelo Anaohu-Amazu, explained that the workshop was the  third in the series organized specifically for the Honourable Justices and Judicial Officers as part of the continuous effort to disseminate  knowledge and understanding of the rudiments and mechanism of the CPS.

The Director General told the participants that since the previous workshops conducted in 2013, there had been remarkable developments in the Nigerian pension reform implementation. As you are aware, the Pension Reform Act 2004, which was the governing legislation of the Pension Reform in Nigeria, was repealed and re-enacted in July 2014.

According to her: “It is worthy to note that the Pension Reform Act 2014 re-enacted the copious provisions of the repealed 2004 Act, which include inter alia, the establishment of the Contributory Pension Scheme as well as the National Pension Commission as the sole regulator and supervisor of pension matters in Nigeria.

L,-R Mrs Chinelo Anohu Amazu DG PenCom, Justice Walter Onnoghen Acting Chief Justice of the Federation and Justice Rosaline Boxing Administrator of National Judicial Institute(NJI

Importance of PRA 2014

Amongst other significant revisions, the PRA 2014 introduced some innovations in the pension system, instituted a stiffer regime of sanctions and penalties for infringements, upward review of the minimum rate of pension contribution in order to enhance the value of pension payouts and expanded the coverage of private sector employees under the CPS. Therefore, these new initiatives as well as the major areas of divergence between the PRA 2004 and the PRA 2014 will be elaborately highlighted and discussed at this Workshop by the distinguished speakers.

“As a novel concept in Nigeria, the introduction of the CPS to replace the old Defined Benefit (DB) Scheme was laudable in instituting an effective and efficient pension system. However, as it is with all new initiatives, the implementation process often results in certain challenges, and disputes may arise due to lack of adequate understanding of responsibilities on the part of stakeholders or misconstruction of the provisions of the Act.

Furthermore, in the course of enforcing compliance on recalcitrant employers by the Commission, some disputes emanate that are ultimately resolved in the Courts.

Therefore, the important role of the Judiciary in ensuring that the Pension Reform remains on course and deepened, as enshrined in the PRA 2014 cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, in discharging this task, the Judiciary requires a forum such as the present one, for in-depth discourse on the provisions of the PRA 2014, as well as legal and institutional frameworks of the Contributory Pension Scheme. Accordingly, this Workshop has been structured to achieve these important objectives.

Resource persons

She explained that speakers were carefully considered and selected to ensure effective delivery of its content, naming of the resource persons to include the pioneer Director General of the Commission, Mr. M. K. Ahmad, Senior Legal practitioners and Pension Operators, noting that their papers would also be discussed by judicial officers and legal luminaries.

According to the Director General, topics were also carefully designed to provide a clear and lucid understanding of the pertinent legal and regulatory aspects of the CPS that would enhance the knowledge of the Judicial Officers.

She added that major areas of discussion included a “General Overview of the CPS in Nigeria; The Application of Regulatory and Supervisory tools in the Nigerian Pension Industry; Perspectives on the Administration of Retirement and Terminal Benefits; An Appraisal of the Regime of Administrative Sanctions, Offences and Penalties under the PRA 2014; An Examination of the Compliance & Enforcement Activities of PenCom and the Effectiveness of Dispute Resolution Mechanisms under the PRA 2014.”