The current level of financial literacy if not upgraded to the level where many and ultimately much more Nigerians that need to be included will continue to keep a frightening large mass of the population out of the benefits of contributory pension contribution especially the varied micro segment of the population.
This position formed the trust of new entrant into the pension fund administrators fold, Parthian Pensions Limited, and the company seeks to build a stealth weapon to drive upgraded dimension of financial literacy to broaden its customer base of retirement savings account holders. The Head of Operations Mr. Adetunbi Ashaye who represented the company at the 10th National Conference/Anniversary of Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) held in Lagos called on stakeholders in Nigeria’s pension sector to to widen the window of educating Nigerians on the importance of embracing the CPS.
Ashaye noted there still is a disconnect of CPS operations across the working society that contributors have forgotten so soon the bad experiences of unfunded defined pension.
“What really needs to happen is the need to drive financial literacy because people in Nigeria see pension as insignificant, something that is not important,” he advised.
“The impact of the scheme to the economy is ensuring that people have good retirement; people have good life after they have stopped working. In other words, what we need to do in the industry as operators is to ensure financial literacy. We need to let people know what is going on and why they should continually support the contributory pension scheme,” he added.
Noting that most Nigerians are undecided on insurance and pensions because lopsided judgement of their economic state, “their concern is that, if they cannot provide for their immediate needs, which is food, shelter and clothing, why should they save? And it still boils down to a Micro Pension Plan.
He said the pension industry reaction should be delivering an upgraded micro pension that addresses issues that relate to the peculiarity of the various segments in the micro pension platform, “What should be happening in the industry now is to simplify, digitise micro pension plans, and ensure diversification in different ways so that we can reach out to everybody.”
Meanwhile, he said, his PFA will leverage on the opportunities provided by micro pension plan to enrich its customer base and bring more people who are not currently covered under the regular scheme into the pension safety net.
“So, we are technology driven as we leverage technology for effective service delivery to our contributors. This is effective and it’s going to drive people and companies towards us.
Banking on the huge investment Parthian had made in IT he said they focused on reaching about 80 million in that space, “we are going to flood micro pension space which still remains untapped. So, we are not just coming into the business to cannibalise RSA holders, we are coming to bring on board new RSAs and chart a new course,” he reiterated.
He promised prospective contributors to expect simplicity, and less complexity in onboarding, “they can onboard from the comfort of their homes. There is human face to every service we render. We will drive towards financial literacy. We are the pensions managers of choice, trust and we will get that actualised.”
