Federal pensioners will no longer experience problems with delayed pension payments after retirement, according to a declaration made on Thursday, September 15, 2022 by the National Pension Commission of Nigeria (PENCOM).
The N14.5 trillion pension fund is not idle, according to the Executive Chairman of PENCOM, Aisha Dahiru Umar, who made this claim in a submission to the Senate Committee on Finance, which is currently working with government agencies on proposals for the 2023–2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
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The PENCOM boss stated that the Federal Government is virtually finished clearing the backlog of accrued rights component of pension payments to Pensioners that have caused delays in payment throughout the years.
She claims that for the past seventeen years, the federal government has been disbursing N49 billion each month to cover the accrued rights backlog of pensioners.
The Federal Government, whose retirees are impacted, has taken the necessary steps in that regard, she added, so late pension payments to pensioners will soon be a thing of the past.
She did, however, suggest that pensioners complete the necessary paperwork a year prior to retiring in order to expedite the process.
She told the committee that the N14.5 trillion available pension fund is not sitting on its hands since 35% of it is invested in money markets, N9.5 trillion in federal government securities, and N1.23 trillion in equity shares.
However, the Committee stated that aside from the N26 billion annually placed into the Commission budget without monetary support, the agency’s annual recurrent N102 million overhead subvention provided by the federal government will be abolished.
