Data from the Pension Commission reveals that 104,161 ex-workers, who contributed about N135.6bn to the Contributory Pension Scheme, have withdrawn N33.9bn from their Retirement Saving Accounts as of the end of March 2015.
The number of contributors who withdrew from their RSAs rose to 96,708 at the end of 2014. Out of these, 92,245 were from the private sector, while 4,463 were public workers. With a total contribution of N126.4bn in their pension accounts, the contributors withdrew N31.6bn at the end of last year.
The ex workers in question are former employees who have either been sacked or resigned voluntarily for personal reasons. Section 7 (2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 allows a worker who voluntarily retires, resigns or is disengaged from paid employment to access 25 per cent of his RSA if he is unable to get another job after four months.
You too can access your Pension Funds should you decide to resign from paid employment or were sacked. Here are steps required to access your funds;
- Present to your PFA the letter of termination of appointment issued by the employer or letter of resignation
- Present to your PFA, last three months’ payslips
- Letter from you requesting for 25 per cent payment of the RSA balance
- Evidence of accrued pension rights, if any, for public sector workers.
- Bank statement or letter of introduction from the bank
- Proof of age (birth certificate or sworn declaration of age)
- Letter from the employer confirming full remittance of all contributions made to the RSA for the private sector worker
- PenCom retiree indemnity form for public sector workers
- Four passport photographs; and a form to be given by the PFA.
- Another condition on which contributors can withdraw a maximum of 25 per cent of their savings with their PFAs is if the workers want to access the fund for mortgage loan.
My mummy retired pension with military pay and record after working fo 20years and her gratuity has not been paid. she as made all efforts for her to be paid but no positive impact. Two years ago and last week, some fraudsters called say the same thing, that we should pay some certain amount to there account before she can collect her pay…..and so on.please kindly help us.
mr daniel,my dad died in d year 2012 but will resigned 2018 hope dat will can still collect his money d pension managers,he his a police officer,rank senior inspector
You don’t need to wait till his retirement.
The first thing to do is to reach out to the PFA your father used whilst alive to confirm if he actually has funds in his account. If he does, a terminal benefit which is a lump sum of the total amount should be paid out immediately, not until his retirement age.
The problem is that that was an issue with the Police pension funds sometimes ago, this can affect your father’s fund.
Just get in touch with the PFA and let them know what is going on.
These PFAs has so many unclaimed funds sitting in their account and they are just using it for their own gains simply because the fund owner’s beneficiaries do not know how to get the funds
Afer 4mnths a nd all documents submitted are we collecting cheque immediately
I have withdrawn 25% after I lost my job and l did not get another job after 4month.My question is this, can I have access to this fund if l have not been gainfully employed since then till now and l want to use the money to start business or to meet crucial need.
I wrote Stanbic Pension to withdraw 25% of my funds for mortgage purposes. They dribbled me that it was not possible until I showed them sections of the Pencom Act 2014 that empowered me to so demand.
They now claimed they do not have the Guidelines to implement that provision of the Act. I have since written to Pencom Abuja via email but not a response for over a month until this month when someone replied that they have sent my request to the appropriate unit for attention.
This is almost 3 weeks and I am still waiting.
These PFAs are purposely exploiting Nigerians due to our ignorance and weak system.
Let all Nigerians join hand and demand service from these private PFAs defrauding private citizens from beneficial programs.
Dear Editor,
I wish to have your email so that I can join you in all my emails to Pencom, Stanbic Pensions etc.
We must win this battle against oppression of the public
Please can i still withdraw from my pension account after withdrawing from it the first time, because up till now i am still unemployed..I really want to know if i can get any money from the account so that i can do small business with it or perhaps buy a car that i can use for commercial purposes. Thanks
Please reply