15,000+ Retirees Withdraw N7.79 Billion from Savings Accounts

Over 15,000 retirees, who had not been receiving monthly stipends of at least N10,000 under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPA), withdrew N7.79 billion from their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) over the course of a year.

These individuals, as revealed in the National Pension Commission’s latest quarterly report on enbloc payments, possessed RSA balances of less than N1.6 million.

They officially exited the CPS between the second quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. Their numbers joined the ranks of 133,738 earlier retirees who left the CPS due to RSA balances below N550,000.

In response to this financial predicament, PenCom previously sanctioned the complete payment of RSA balances for those retirees whose amounts fell below N550,000, inadequate for securing a reasonable programmed withdrawal or annuity across their expected lifespans.

This move brought the total number of retirees departing from the CPS to an impressive 149,372 individuals, with a substantial sum of N41.3 billion disbursed to them.

These retirees were categorized into 7,584 from the Federal Government, 4,203 from state governments, and a significant majority of 137,585 from the private sector.

According to PenCom’s reports, “In the second quarter of 2022, approval was granted for enbloc payment of retirement benefits to 3,369 retirees, which totalled N1.45bn. These were retirees whose RSA balances could not provide a monthly pension of at least one third of the prevailing minimum wage (i.e. N30,000).

“In the third quarter, approval was granted for enbloc payment of retirement benefits to 4,529 retirees, which totalled N2.40bn. These were retirees whose RSA balances could not provide a monthly pension of at least one third of the prevailing minimum wage (N30,000).

“In the fourth quarter, approval was granted for enbloc payment of retirement benefits to 3,677 retirees, which totalled N1.56bn. These were retirees whose RSA balances could not provide a monthly pension of at least one third of the prevailing minimum wage (N30,000).”