States
that failed to register their employees in the new pension scheme may be
putting them at risk at retirement as Trustfund Pension Administrator
(PFA) said only few states are compliant to date...
Speaking at the Employers’
Forum/interactive session in Lagos, the Chief Compliance Officer,
Trustfund Pension, Mrs. Rachael Obi, said the number of states that have
registered their workers for the new pension are quite negligible.
Though she noted that Pension Commission
(PENCOM), the overall body seeing to the administration of pension is
working on states that are yet to comply, she warned that the workers
may have nothing to fall back on if the states fail to make remittances
for the workers’ future.
“The number of states that have
registered so far are still quite small but those that are with us are
doing well, especially Lagos, Delta and Rivers,” she said.
She, however, charged the other states to
fulfil their responsibility towards their workers by ensuring that they
register with the PFA so that they would have something to fall back on
at retirement.
Obi said the law was explicit on the mode
of operation of the new pension, which demanded that every employee,
old or new, maintains a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) in his name
with any PFA of his choice.
She stated further that deduction of the
employee contribution should be done not later than seven working days
from the day the employee is paid his salary, remit an amount comprising
the employee’s contribution and the employer’s to the PFA of the
employee.
She lamented that some employers have not
been complying with the PENCOM guidelines but rather deduct and instead
of remitting immediately, plough the fund back into their business.
She stated that the forum was organised
to update the employers on the new guidelines from PENCOM as well as
correct some misinformation most especially on the best way it would be
easier for their employees to access their funds after retirement.
She explained that many things could
stall payment of benefits to retirees, among others, improper names,
multiple pins, date of birth, unremitted and excess contributions.
The compliance officer advised that in a
case of excess remittances made, the employer can instruct Trustfund to
use the excess for subsequent remittances or as an addition to
subsequent remittances to be made. But in the case of under-remittance,
the remittance would not be processed until the complete amount is
paid.
In his presentation, Daniel Onatoye,
representing Zenith Pension Custodian, the Trustfund bankers said
unapplied and returned funds have continued to be the bane of pension
industry. He said pensioners struggle to get benefits payment due to
unapplied and returned funds.
He said, “pensioners in Nigeria receive
payment instructions from Trustfund but they don’t get paid due to
incomplete information such as Non-NUBAN account numbers and incomplete
account numbers.”
“The return funds on the other hand are
referred for reasons such as dormant and locked account, beneficiary
decease account and restricted account.”
He further said that the transfer
platform via Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBSS) allows for a
time lag of 24-48 hours for benefits payments and advised that
Retirement Savings Account holders should contact Trustfund immediately
if they don’t receive their fund.
He however advised that the employers
should update details of employees with their PFA, adding that account
name must tally with the RSA name while any changes due to marriage,
location etc should be supplied with the correct documents.
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