The National Pension Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have secured a deal to examine the incidences of fraud in the pension sector in Nigeria and ways of eradicating the menace in a proactive manner without endangering still counting N13tr pension assets.
This top level initiative by the two bodies was disclosed by the Director-General PenCom Mrs. Aisha Dabir-Umar, at the onset of two-days sensitisation workshop in Abuja on the “Eradication of Pension Fraud in Nigeria.”
PenCom boss qualifying the need to roll out state financial crime buster against fraud, said the re enacted Pension Reform Act 2014 has enamoured the pension commission to address the rot that characterised the administration of pensions in the pre-reform era. Dabir-Umar was upbeat to state that the exclusive pension powers granted PenCom to supervise and regulate pension has “substantially restored credibility and confidence in Nigeria’s pension systems.”
“Thus, we have, today, an industry that has accumulated pension assets in excess of N13tr, invested in various aspects of the economy and still growing,” she stated.
She explained that PenCom has a statutory mandate to undertake public education, enlightenment and awareness campaigns on the CPS and other pension matters. She comments, “It has also developed and established structures, systems and procedures that ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the administration of pension in Nigeria. These systems and procedures have become reference points for other African countries, many of whom have undertaken study visits to the Commission.”
PenCom boss while noting the mutually beneficial veritable platform and up ticking its sustainability, said the workshop is unique because it has taken collaboration to the next level affording stakeholders the opportunity to discuss within two days, “the entire ramifications of fraud in the pension administration space, understand the issues, share experiences and find proactive ways of preventing their occurrence.”
Dabir-Umar promised that PenCom and EFCC will continue to explore their respective continued collaboration to “serve as catalyst for reducing the menace of fraud in the pension industry to the barest minimum.”
