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Inaugurates 16 member team
BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha has challenged the newly inaugurated National Pensions Commission (PenCom) board to initiate innovative and beneficial ideas to drive efficiency in the nation’s pension industry.
He said existing and emerging challenges of pensions administration in Nigeria demand that the Commission is adequately prepared to move the sector forward for sustainable growth.
Inaugurating the 16 member-board. in Abuja, Mustapha said they must ensure pension policies and programmes are implemented in the overall interest of the contributors.
The SGF, who congratulated the Board members, noted that in recent times, the country has witnessed obvious challenges in pension administration despite the guarantee pension payment that now has constitutional and statutory backing.
Mustapha admitted that these challenges led to the pension reform of 2004, which established PenCom and created the mandatory Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for employees in both public and private sectors, with the exception of few public service organisations.
He said it was however unfortunate that the sector has been unable to fully realise its potentials, hence the need to reposition PenCom for effective service delivery.
According to him; “As a government, we are always conscious of our responsibilities with regards to payment of pensions to eligible retirees in the Federal Public Service.
“We are committed to discharging these responsibilities in spite of the perennial challenges, especially as caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic manifesting in dwindling revenue accruing to the nation,.”
Mustapha listed the Board’s mandate to include formulating and providing general policy guidelines for the Commission to efficiently discharge its functions
He also challenged the board members to distant themselves from activities that could cause administrative frictions and directly interfere in the day-to-day running of the agency’s affairs.
