Only 10,541 Nigerian firms have pension, insurance cover for workers –PenCom

PenCom has disclosed that just 10,541 firms in Nigeria have complied with the country’s statutory laws on compliance with pension and insurance covers and have been cleared to do business with the government.

The commission which disclosed this in its quarterly report on ‘Issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates,’ said the certificates given to them cleared them to do business with Federal Government agencies.

“The commission received 11,200 applications from private sector organisations for the issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates. Out of this number, PCCs were issued to 10,541 organisations, while 659 applications were in the approval process as at 31 March 2022,” the commission said.

“The records showed that the 10,541 organisations had remitted a total sum of N59,39bn into the Retirement Savings Accounts of their employees.”

The commission in a circular to the general public, suppliers, contractors or consultant bidding or seeking contract or business from any Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies, said they must fully comply with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

As a result, the regulatory agency said the commission had issued annual Pension Clearance Certificates to eligible organisations.

“MDAs are reminded to ensure that only Pension Clearance Certificates issued by the commission are accepted as evidence of compliance with the provisions of the PRA 2014,” it stated.

The commission said the firms must provide evidence of remittance of monthly pension contributions for all employees.

It said that they must provide evidence of group life insurance policy for employees, specifying the number of lives and sum assumed.

In the directive, the commission stated that in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(5) of the 2014 and Section 5.5 of the guidelines for life insurance policy for employees, employers of labour covered by the PRA 2014 were required to submit copies of the insurance certificates with the schedule of benefits to the commission.

According to the commission, total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme stood at N13.88tn in March.