By David Akinmola
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said that a total of N336.25 million has been recovered from 35 defaulting employers across sectors of the economy.
The commission, revealed in its 2024 second-quarter report displayed on its website, saying that the amount is comprised of N125.57 million in unpaid principal contributions and N210.68 million in penalties.
The report also explained that from the inception of the commission’s recovery initiative in June 2012 through June 30, 2024, a total of N27.97 billion has also been recovered from non-compliant employers.
This figure includes N13.60 million in outstanding pension contributions and N14.17 million in penalties, all collected from employers who failed to meet their pension obligations.
The commission said that its Secretariat and Legal Advisory Services Department have been tasked with initiating legal action against three of the defaulting employers.
“PenCom continues to engage 25 Recovery Agents (RAs) to recover unremitted pension contributions and associated penalties from defaulting employers,” the report stated.
According to the report, the commission received five requests for refund of pension contributions to Military Personnel and other Security Agencies of which all five requests were processed, and the sum of N0.39 million was refunded to the affected personnel during the quarter.
“The refund was attributed to the exemption of the Military and other Security Service Agencies from the Contributory Pension Scheme due to the nature of their jobs,” the Commission said.
The report noted that during the quarter under review, the Commission had processed and issued a total of 13,047 PCCs to organizations that met the requirements, and the sum of N143.13bn was remitted into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of 188,426 employees of the 13,047 organizations issued PCCs.
The report stated that during the quarter under review, the Commission processed and issued a total of 2,846 PCCs to organisations that met the requirements, and the sum of N17.124bn was remitted into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of 36,742 employees of the 2,846 organizations issued PCCs.
According to the report, the Commission received twelve batches of NSITF transfer applications from Trusttund Pensions Limited (Trustfund) on behalf of ninety-one NSITF members requesting the transfer of a sum of N4.33m into their respective RSAs.
It noted that the requests were reviewed and approvals granted for the transfer of N3.96m into the RSAs of the 91 members with various Pension Fund Administrators, having met all the requirements for the transfer of NSITF contributions.
It stated that the outstanding N0.37m was observed to be contributions remitted after the enactment of the PRA 2004 (after July 20024) when the NSITF Scheme was terminated thus, the portion of the request was not approved for transfer into RSAs of the members.
