The National Pension Commission has recovered a total of N9.38 billion Naira from defaulting companies. These companies had deducted the pension funds from the salaries of their employees under the Compulsory Pension Scheme (CPS) but had refused to remit them to their Retirement Savings Account.
The amount included fines of about N348.81 million placed on the erring companies, states the report released by the Commission. The Punch Newspapers, through its correspondent, was informed that the contributions of about 127,555 workers for the month of March were still due. The report further disclosed that while over 7 million employees were registered as at March, only 6,879,179 workers had their pension contributions remitted to their RSAs.
This trend, if allowed to continue, would result in the employees having little or no pension fund to fall back upon their retirement, even after funds for this deducted from their salaries. To prevent, PenCom stated that 55 of its consultants to embark on the recovery of the remaining outstanding funds.
The Commission also confirmed that it would continue to slam heavy fines on defaulting companies to discourage such practice. In addition, PenCom said it would collaborate with stakeholders to engage in public enlightenment to further stimulate compliance with the procedure.
Regarding informal workers not currently covered by the CPS, the Punch Newspaper quoted PenCom as saying that it had engaged in consultations with key stakeholders with the aim of creating a micro-pension scheme for self-employed artisans and organizations with less than 3 employees.
The article was culled from The Punch Newspapers
NewsTeam/ Punch Newspapers
