CPS: Making retirement all inclusive through proper planning
Beyond enjoying the objective promised by the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as provided in the pension Reform Act 2004 as amended in 2014, retirement for worker should be all inclusive to enable one achieve that expected comfort after work life.
In other words, a retiree should have a complete retirement plans that not only takes care of the economic life, but also takes care of the psychological and social wellbeing during retirement.
Expert says achieving an all inclusive retirement plan would go a long way to stabilise the CPS and enhance contributor confidence.
Wilson Ideva, managing director, Premium Pension Limited, says retirement that is not preceded by proper planning and preparedness could spell disaster for both the retiree and the society.
Ideva who made this assertion in Asaba while delivering a paper at the 2nd Edition of the Delta State Bureau of State Pensions Annual Lecture Series held at Orchid Hotel in Asaba stated that: “Enjoying a hitch-free retirement goes beyond receiving a lump-sum and regular programmed withdrawal from one’s Retirement Savings Account (RSA).”
Presenting a paper entitled: ‘Towards Sustaining Stronger Relations Between State and Local Government Bureaux of Pensions and Pension Fund Administration: The Delta State Experience’, Ideva noted that it requires in-depth planning and profound mental and psychological conditioning of the retiring worker to equip him to seamlessly adjust to a different kind of life after years of service to society.
Ideva, who dwelt extensively on the consequences of lack of understanding of the basic requirements for a happy life in retirement and associated ill-preparedness for it, observed that an ill-prepared retirement could spell disaster both for the retiree and the society and consequently give the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) a bad name and erode the initial gains.
The onus falls on the Bureaux of Pensions and the pension operators to run preparatory programmes for workers, especially those on the verge of retirement, stating that economically, socially and psychologically stable retirees are the most effective advertisement for the CPS.
Ideva therefore called for synergy of all stakeholders in the CPS to ensure that the gains of the industry in the past decade are sustained. “Partnership of relevant government institutions, especially the Bureaux of Pension and the pension operators in the country is a sine qua non for sustaining the current gains of the Contributory Pension Scheme and even expanding its scope and proliferating its inherent opportunities.”
Importantly, he called for prioritisation of awareness creation on the importance and workings of the CPS.
To ensure that many more workers are covered by the pension scheme, Ideva advised that every government should plan to expand and/or redefine its programmes even as it relates to the private sector.
There must incorporated an in-built strategies to accommodate the pension requirements of participants, beneficiaries and key actors as the case may be, noting that expanding the CPS to the informal sector of the economy as permitted by the Pension Reform Act 2014 requires some measure of creativity and professionalism on the part of key actors to actualise.
“The CPS is one of the most successful government initiatives achieved in recent time, and still have very huge growth potential so requires ingenious and concerted approaches to lift it to the next level.”
Ideva also used the event to commend the Delta State Government under the leadership of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for its pioneering effort in entrenching the CPS.
“Thanks to the solid structures put in place by the Delta State Government, the CPS has been irreversibly entrenched in the state.
“The State stands out as one of the most consistent states in the processing and remittance of workers/government contribution to workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) as well as payment of retirement and death benefits”
“Needless to say that the success of CPS has rekindled workers’ confidence in the system and by extension attracted a conducive environment for loyalty and increased productivity” said Ideva.
“This accounts to some extent for the highly impressive achievements recorded by the State Government in recent times,” he added.
The objectives of the Pension Reform Act is to establish a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for the administration and payments of retirement benefits for the public service of the federation, the public service of the federal capital territory, the public service of the state government, the public service of the local government councils and the private sector.
It is also to ensure that every person who worked in either the public service of the federation, Federal Capital Territory, states and local government or the private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due; and assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age.