‘Pensions to become stronger on back of national identity scheme’

Premium Pension Limited, one of the leading pension fund administrators (PFAs) in the country has commended the Federal Government on the successful launch of the National Identity (e-ID) Card.

“The new contributory pension scheme is technology-driven and the electronic identification of every Nigerian would not only complement but facilitate the operation of the scheme” said Kayode Akande, the executive director, operations and services of Premium Pension Limited.

“The new pension industry has witnessed tremendous growth in its ten years of existence and the market penetration would have even been deeper if there were proper individual identification of the entire Nigerian workforce,” Akande added. Less than seven million workers have enlisted in the Contributory Pension Scheme out of the estimated 70 million Nigerian working population.

Akande pointed out that one of the major challenges to the rendition of pension fund administration in the country is the issue of duplicate registration and multiple identities.

“When the National Identity Management System provides a smooth process for enrolment into the National Identity Database for the procurement of National Identification Number the operation of pension administration would be seamless and unfettered,” he said.

“Capturing the demographics and/or biometrics of every Nigerian worker in a national identity bank or database would facilitate unassailable growth in the pension industry,” the Executive Director explained.

The Pension Reform Act, 2014 emphasises the extension of the contributory pension scheme to the informal sector whose informality is underscored by its lack of proper organisation and even accentuated by the lack of identity of most of its members.

Modestus Anaesoronye