Economy
By Anthony Isibor.
AISHA Umar Dahir, Director-General, National Pension Commission, PenCom, has has said that the collaboration between the organization and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will help curtail the menace of fraud in the pension sector to the barest minimum.
Speaking at the two-day sensitization workshop on the “Eradication of Pension Fraud in Nigeria”, she expressed delight that the event would no doubt, create the synergy needed to boost the efforts of the two organizations in the discharge of their respective statutory mandates relating to the theme of the workshop.
According to her, PenCom’s partnership with the EFCC will essentially examine the incidences of fraud in the pension sector in Nigeria and ways of eradicating the menace in a proactive manner.
“Indeed, we must recognize the uniqueness of today’s workshop, which has literally taken our collaboration to the next level. Stakeholders have all converged to discuss within the two days of this workshop, the entire ramifications of fraud in the pension administration space, understand the issues, share experiences and find proactive ways of preventing their occurrence. This is indeed a mutually beneficial and veritable platform, which we must all keep and ensure its sustainability.
“The National Pension Commission, PenCom, is, indeed, pleased to partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in this awareness creation initiative.
“The problems of fraud and mismanagement in the pension sector in Nigeria were amongst the reasons that necessitated the pension reform of 2004 by the Federal Government. The Pension Reform Act 2004, which was later reviewed and re-enacted in 2014, introduced legal and institutional frameworks aimed at addressing the rot that characterized the administration of pensions in the pre-reform era,” she said.
She explained that the Act also established PenCom to regulate and supervise all pension matters in Nigeria, including the licensing of Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, and Pension Fund Custodians, PFCs.
“The Pension Transitional Arrangements Directorate, PTAD, was also established by the PRA 2014 to administer, in a transparent manner, the Defined Benefits Scheme, DBS, for pensioners exempted from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS.
“Thus, we have, today, an industry that has accumulated pension assets in excess of N13 trillion, invested in various aspects of the economy and still growing.
“Pursuant to its statutory mandate under Section 23(f) of the PRA 2014, PenCom has consistently undertaken public education, enlightenment and awareness campaigns on the CPS and other pension matters. It has also developed and established structures, systems and procedures that ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the administration of pension in Nigeria. These systems and procedures have become reference points for other African countries, many of whom have undertaken study visits to the Commission,” she added.
He expressed worry that although, these measures substantially restored credibility and confidence in Nigeria’s pension systems, as it is the case with every human endeavour, retrogressive elements continued to exploit procedural gaps in the operations of pension practitioners in both the CPS and DBS to the detriment of unsuspecting public.
According to her, “New issues and challenges continue to emerge, which place special responsibility on the regulators, the operators and other stakeholders to constantly review their operating environment with a view to finding solutions to address the problems.
Consequently, the PRA 2014 had strengthened Nigeria’s pension institutions in both the Contributory and Defined Benefits Schemes, and imbued them with the capacity to rise above emerging challenges. Thus, while these institutions explore their respective…, the continued collaboration with the EFCC would certainly serve as catalyst for reducing the menace of fraud in the pension industry to the barest minimum,” she said.
She commended the foresight and dynamism of the leadership of the EFCC for accepting to collaborate with PenCom for this workshop despite the preponderance of other daunting challenges being tackled by the EFCC in the country.
“This demonstrates the importance given by the EFCC to issues that concern our senior citizens,” she added.
– OCT. 07, 2021 @ 20:12 GMT |
A.I
Tags: AISHA Umar Dahir EFCC National Pension Commission
