The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management has revealed that about 63 million workforce in Nigeria are yet to contribute to the Contributory Pension Scheme of the National Pension Commission.
Enugu State branch of the Institute, Dr Onyeka Okoh, made the revelation in Enugu on Thursday, during the PenCom/NECA interactive session on the Contributory Pension Scheme for the Organised Private Sector.
According to Okoh, only 10 million workers have enrolled in the scheme which he attributed to the inherent corruption in Nigeria.
Okoh explained that while the Federal workers and the multi-national companies in Nigeria were complying with the Pension Scheme Act of 2014, many others, especially the informal sector were yet to comply.
He, however, attributed the low enrollment to corruption, adding that if Nigeria must get it right, “corruption must first be killed.”
Noting that the multinationals were able to comply because of the way they were structured to function well, he said privately owned companies in Nigeria hardly complied with the PenCom scheme.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman of the National Employers Consultative Association, NECA, Uzochukwu Chime, while appraising the importance of PenCom, said that retirement before the scheme was a nightmare for workers.
He said that, “Before, life after retirement could be described as uncertain and unpredictable. However, with the Pension Reform Act 2014, the narration has changed significantly.
“Primarily because no matter the efforts put into a system or process, there will always be room for improvement. Thus, following the enactment of the Act and with successive PenCom leadership, we have had a series of improvements and innovations in the administration of the pension scheme.”
Mr Bala Babangida , who represented the DG of PenCom, said that the organisation was doing everything possible to see that workers and employers appreciated the scheme because of its numerous benefits.
According to Babangida, the commission was making efforts to ensure that the informal sectors participated effectively in the scheme by educating and enlightening them on the importance of the scheme.
