President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the request by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to pay the outstanding pension liabilities of the federal government under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
in a statement PenCom said funds had already been made available for the settlement of the pension obligations.
The commission listed critical aspects of the outstanding pension liabilities of the federal government the president approved for settlement to include payment of outstanding accrued pension rights for verified and enrolled retirees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that retired but were yet to be paid their benefits, as well as the backlog of death benefits claims due to beneficiaries of deceased employees of treasury-funded MDAs.
Buhari also approved the payment of the 2.5 per cent differential in the rate of employer pension contribution for federal government retirees and employees, which resulted from the increase in the minimum pension contribution for employers from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent in line with Section 4(1) of the PRA 2014.
It said: “Payments for retirees and existing employees would take effect from July 2014. It is worthy to note that subsequently, the Federal Government of Nigeria is expected to continue with the payment of the 10 per cent rate of employer pension contribution for its employees, thus ensuring a remittance of at least 18 per cent monthly (employer 10 per cent and employee eight per cent) as provided by the PRA 2014.
“Funds have already been made available for the settlement of the above-stated pension liabilities. Accordingly, remittance into the various Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of the affected retirees and employees is currently being processed.”
According to PenCom, the affected retirees and employees will soon be notified by their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
It added that the settlement of the outstanding accrued pension rights of verified and enrolled federal government retirees and compliance with the reviewed rate of pension contributions are significant developments, which would resolve the challenges in these aspects that have lingered since 2014.
*culled from Thisday
Comment here