AMRI Hails PenCom Leadership Over Recovery Of 2.55bn Unremitted Pensions, Says Achievement A Visible Milestone, Result Of Buhari’s Anti-Corruption Campaign

A Media advocacy group for good governance in Africa, Africa Media Roundtable Initiative has commended the National Pension Commission, under the focused and visionary leadership of Aisha Dahiru-Umar for what it described as outstandingly professionalism and the unprecedented transparency and accountability she has entrenched in the management and administration of the Pension industry in Nigeria.

The group made this known in a statement on Monday signed by its Executive Director, Engr. Charles Awolowo and made available to newsmen in Abuja.

According to the group, the bold steps taken by the eagle-eyed and vigilant leadership of PenCom led to the discovery and recovery of humongous sum of 2.55bn unremitted Pensions in the year 2021.

It says this is a clear indication that PenCom is fully in tone with President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.

Describing the development as cheering, AMRI noted that this is a clear indication that undeniable accountability, glaring transparency and professionalism has been deeply entrenched as a norm in the country’s pension administration.

The statement said, “The discovery and recovery of pensions deducted by employers from employees’ monthly emoluments in 2021 but not remitted to the Retirement Savings Accounts with their respective Pension Fund Administrators is a bold step to stamp out corruption in the Pension administration in Nigeria.

“We as a good governance advocacy group mince no words in saying that this is an eloquent testimony of the integrity, sincerity and patriotism of the current PenCom leadership under Mrs Aisha Dahiru-Umar.”

The quarterly report made available by PenCom on Thursday showed that recovery made includes unremitted contributions and sanctions.

PenCom also disclosed its plan to take legal action against some of the employees found to have committed punishable infractions.

“Following the issuance of demand notices to defaulting employers whose pension liabilities were established by the recovery agents, the sum of N984m representing principal contribution (N406.42m) and penalty (N577.87m) was recovered from 36 defaulting employers during the quarter under review,” it says in its fourth-quarter report.

AMRI also commended PenCom for recommending legal actions for certain employers for violation of extant laws.

It insists that this bold step will without any iota of doubt boost the confidence of Nigerians to key into the Contributory Pension Scheme more than ever before.