60% of Nigeria’s population not captured in pension scheme

Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Chinelo Anohu-Amaizu, has disclosed that 60 percent of the Nigerian working population are not captured in the organised pension scheme and therefore face an uncertain future.

Meanwhile, savings from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) overseen by PENCOM and managed by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and licensed pension custodians have risen to N5.3 trillion. The CPS was introduced in 2004, as a way of ensuring regular payment of pensions to retirees, unlike in the pay-as-you-go scheme where pensioners were owed several months.

Anohu-Amaizu, who spoke with journalists in Lagos, recently, named the Nollywood industry as one area left out in the CPS, despite the fact that some of the major players in the industry earn millions of naira.

According to Anohu-Amaizu, the commission is taking steps to expand the scope of coverage to this group and others in the informal sector of the economy.

PENCOM is set to collaborate with groups such as labour, civil society groups, road transport workers, and artisans to work out modalities that will capture the informal sector under a micro-pension scheme, the director-general said.

“The micro pension will capture people in the Nollywood and music sector. When some actors or musicians are no longer performing, they find it difficult to live well.

“People in the entertainment industry earn millions today, but there is no plans for the rainy day, that is why it is pertinent to capture them in the micro-pension scheme,” she said.

She noted that the informal workers must be ready to save some money for the future, adding that the country was encountering problem with price of oil because it did not leave money in the reserve during oil boom.

The PENCOM boss said the commission had started sensitising workers in the textile industry and later it would talk to the road transport workers.

“We have identified the groups to work with. We will begin sensitisation for the workers to understand the importance of what they are going into before we will start the scheme,” she said.