PenCom: Pension contributors to hit 20m by 2019

The Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom) Mrs. Chinelo Ahinu- Amazu, has projected that the number of workers contributing to the new pension scheme will rise to 20 million from the current 6.5 million by the year 2019. Anohu-Amazu, stated this while addressing participants during the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She also clamoured for the investment of pension funds within the African continent in line with the vision and ideas of the African Union’s long term economic development plan tagged Agenda 2063.

The AU Agenda 2063 is both a vision and an action plan, a call for action to all segments of African society to work together to build a prosperous and united Africa based on shared values and a common destiny. It is expected to translate this vision and ideals into concrete objectives, milestones, goals, targets and actions/measures  and it is supposed to enable Africa remain focused and committed to the ideals envisaged in the context of a rapidly changing world. In operational terms, the Agenda 2063 would be a rolling plan of 25 years, 10 years, five years and short term action.

Sharing her thoughts on “Leveraging Pension Funds for Financing Infrastructure Development in Africa” in one of the discussion panels, she said PenCom is committed to the vision and ideals of the AU Agenda 2063 and would promote the investment of accumulated pension fund assets within the continent.

“PenCom is committed to promote sustainable pension fund investments on the African continent and welcomes the AU Agenda 2063 as well as the Programme for Infrastructure Development (PIDA). It would project same through the annual World Pension Summit (WPS) ‘Africa Special’ in collaboration with the WPS Amsterdam,” Anohu- Amazu said. Speaking on the Contributory Pension Scheme, the Director General, expressed dissatisfaction with the level of coverage of the scheme 11 years after it was established.

She said the Commission hopes to raise the coverage using the Micropension initiative, which it planned to launch very soon. “The current position of 6.5 million contributors is low relative to estimated working population. There is plan to expand it to at least 20 million by 2019 through Micro Pensions.

This is pertinent also due to inadequate social safety nets. This is a Pan-african issue that should provoke ideas sharing,” Anohu-Amazu said. She asserted that the Nigerian pension reform represents a major action in Domestic Revenue Mobilisation (DRM), an AU policy that stemmed from the realisation that Africa should take responsibility and indeed possess the resources, if properly mobilised, for its own economic development. This reform is mobilising funds which hitherto were untapped, she stressed.