The National Pension Commission (Pencom) has disclosed that it has so far registered 5.56 million participants into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) since 2004.
Mrs Chinelo Amazu, the Acting Director General of the commission, disclosed this in Calabar at the inauguration of the South-South zonal office of Pencom. She said that the commission had generated a large pool of investible funds of over N3.34 trillion.
She said the amount has been invested in various instruments based on the statutory guidelines.
According to her, these are part of the achievements of the commission since its establishment in 2004. She said that the commission was amending the Pension Reform Acts of 2004 which had passed through the second reading in the Senate.
The acting DG said the agency had succeeded in issuing regulations which has ensured the smooth running of the industry and creation of job opportunities. She said Pencom had also made possible the “administration of retirement benefits which ensures that pensioners get their pay when due and the establishment of six zonal offices across the country.”
Amazu said that the setting up of the zonal offices in all the geo-political zones was a way of decentralising Pencom’s activities thereby bringing the administration closer to retirees.
“It is our expectation that retirees, active workers and other stakeholders will tap the opportunities offered by the Calabar Zonal Office to lodge complaints, ‘’ she said.
In his speech, Gov. Liyel Imoke thanked the commission for choosing Calabar as its zonal office, adding that there was no better choice for the office in South-South.
Imoke said that the state government was ready to utilise the opportunities offered by the office to regularly interact with Pencom for the benefit of workers in the state.
He commended the commission for the pool of funds it had generated and invested.
“This pool of pension funds is a potential platform for attaining the transformation agenda of government in the provision of infrastructure, energy, employment generation and the development of real sector, ‘’ he said. Also speaking, Sen. Aloysius Etuk, Chairman Senate Committee on Establishment, Ethics and Privileges, said it was sad that retirees had to travel all the way to Abuja to collect their pensions. Etuk said that the establishment of the zonal office was a step in the right direction.
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