The National Pension Commission has revealed that N14.99 trillion was recorded as a Contributory Pension fund at the end of year 2022.

This was contained in its latest report titled– Report on pension industry portfolio for the period ended 31 December 2022.

According to PenCom, the total assets of the Contributory Pension Scheme grew by N1.56 trillion in 2022 as it recorded N13.42 trillion in 2021.

Investors King reports that the members of the contributory scheme increased by 333,002 in 2022 as the number of contributors was formerly 9,529,127 as at 2021 ending. 9,862,129 members were recorded at the end of 2022. 

The Commission gave the breakdown for 2022 as follows: N9.64 trillion or 64.33 percent of the assets was invested in the Federal Government securities, N1.66 trillion for incorporate debt securities, N1.98tn for money market securities and N82.8bn for mutual funds aside other investment figures.

The Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar marveled at the increase in pension fund assets in the third quarter of 2022 despite the economic situation globally.

She averred that the Pension Scheme will diligently deliver good and quality services for the benefit of its contributors.

Dahir-Umar noted that the Commission has broadened its means of acquiring funds for the scheme and embarked on infrastructure projects amongst other forms of investments.

She said the efforts put forth are yielding much increase which makes the Commission ahead of the economic situation and inflation. 

The Director-General hinted that steps have been taken to enable the commission’s annual average rates of return of pension funds in Retirement Savings Account and legacy funds to rise above inflation rates.

Her words, “This laudable performance, in the growth of the AuM, points to the fact that the pension industry will continue to deliver value and benefit to its stakeholders and the nation’s economy. Perhaps, the most significant achievement recorded in the third quarter of 2022 was the successful issuance of guidelines on accessing RSA.

“Balance towards payment of equity contribution for residential mortgage. The guidelines give effect to Section 89(2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which allows eligible RSA holders to apply a percentage of the balances in their Retirement Savings Accounts for payment of equity contribution towards residential mortgage for employees of the public, private and the informal sectors.”

Nigerian workers can now use 25 percent of their Retirement Savings Account (RSA) as equity contribution for mortgages. 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) made the announcement in a statement made available to the press.

According to the commission, Nigerian workers can use 25 percent of their Retirement Savings Account as equity contribution toward their mortgage. The commission explained that the approval is in line with Section 89 Sub Section 2 of the Pension Reform Act, 2014. 

Both salaried employees and self-employed persons can take advantage of the new service albeit after they have met certain conditions. 

Part of the conditions require the applicant (RSA Holder) to be in active employment and must have an offer letter for the property which must be duly signed by the property owner and verified by the mortgage lender.  

The Retirement Savings Account (RSA) of the applicant must also be active for at least five years with both the employer and employee making the mandatory contributions. 

While any RSA holders with less than three years to retirement are not eligible, couples who are both RSA holders can submit a joint application subject that both individuals satisfy all the requirements. 

Meanwhile, Investors King learnt that the news generated mixed feelings among the concerned workers. A number of people commended the new development while some pick hole in it.

Abiodun Bamiduro who commented on the official twitter handle of PenCom (@PenComNig)  said ”  This is long overdue. Better late than never though. Can you also look into the need of RSA holders who are over 50 years of age to access part of their balance for investment in Agriculture before they retire. Starting after retirement makes it more complicated”. Abiodun concluded.

Another commentator, David Ezennia said “Long awaited good news for developers in the real estate sector”. An elated commentator who goes by the name Proudly Nigeria said ” From Monday, I will storm my PFA to inform them and also meet with my mortgage banker to fashion out how to access the fund”. 

The National Pension Commission otherwise known as PenCom was established by the Pension Reform Act 2004, to regulate, supervise and ensure the effective administration of pension matters in Nigeria. PenCom gives licence to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and also oversees pension policy guidelines to protect the interest of the Nigerian workers. 

As part of its efforts to sanitize and ensure a corrupt free administration and management of pensions in Nigeria, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has officially begun the planned placement of pensioners who have enjoyed excess payment of monthly pension to their accurate pension.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Head, Corporate Communications of PTAD, Olubenga Ajayi.

According to the statement, the decision was made in response to the results of the expanded computation project and the re-validation of pensioner’s career documents, both of which were started by the Directorate in 2020 for the Civil Service Pension Department.

The statement read: “Based on the payroll inherited by PTAD, a total of 14,836 retirees were receiving monthly pensions in excess.

“According to the meeting that was held in June 2022, by the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, and the management team of PTAD held a meeting with the Executive members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners(NUP) and the Federal Civil Service Pensioners Branch (FCSPB) to inform the Unions of the Directorate’s plan to properly place pensioners in the Civil Service Pension Department (CSPD) who were being overpaid on their accurate monthly pension.

“At the conclusion of the meeting, the parties agreed that the affected pensioners would be contacted and informed of the Directorate’s plan to properly place them on the correct monthly pension beginning in the month of July 2022, while the modalities to recover the over payment would be worked out in due course. Since then, letters have been delivered to the impacted pensioners”.

Meanwhile, so far, 14,825 pensioners’ monthly payments have been changed to reflect their correct computed monthly pensions.