By Cynthia Ezekwe
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says it has recovered N24.15 billion non-remitted pension savings of employees N853.4 million from 25 defaulting insurance firms for non-remitted pension savings of employees from defaulting employers between June 2012 to December 31, 2022.
The commission disclosed this in its fourth quarter report for 2022, which pointed out that a large number of employers have defaulted the pension remittance.
According to the report, following the issuance of demand notices to the defaulting employers whose pension liabilities were established by the recovery agents, the sum of N853.4m representing principal contribution of N187.37 million and penalty of N666.03 million was recovered, which brought the total amount drawn from the firms to N853.4 million, during the fourth quarter of 2022.
“From the commencement of the recovery exercise in June 2012 to 31 December 2022, a total of N24.15m comprising principal contributions of N12.25 billion and penalties of N11.9 billion was recovered from defaulting employers,” the report showed.
The report further disclosed that the pension fund assets under management increased from N14.42 trillion as of 30 September 2022, to N14.99 trillion as of 31 December 2022, indicating an increase of N568.33 billion.
Meanwhile, 34 defaulting firms have been recommended for appropriate legal action, after all administrative steps taken to make them comply failed.
Speaking on the recovery, Aisha Dahir-Umar, PenCom director general, noted that this occurred despite the challenging macroeconomic environment and the headwinds in the global economic climate, and affirmed that the pension pension industry will continue to deliver value and benefit to its stakeholders and the nation’s economy.
Dahir-Umar further noted that the commission improved its efforts to ensure sustainable investment by pension funds in alternative asset classes and structured infrastructure projects that meet the strict requirements of the pension fund investments regulation.
