Zamfara State Government repealed the contributory pension scheme CPS and returned to contributory defined benefit scheme CDBS, rating the latter its preferred pension scheme, despite the N0.7bn returns turned in by pension fund administrators PFAs from the state pension contributions.
The door was opened for the CDBS to take charge following the repeal of the State law on the CPS and enactment of a new law on CDBS, this was contained in the National Pension Commission (PenCom) Second Quarter 2022 Report.
Following the throwing of spanner in the works of contributory pension scheme by the state government repeal and enactment of a new pension law, PenCom announced in the Report that refund of pension contributions to the state government and its employees has been concluded.
It was striking that the N794.18 million generated as income on the N3.85bn pension contributions while the moribund CPS law lasted was not impressive enough to sustain its operation. The principal was the contributions received by eleven (11) PFAs that operated in the state.
PenCom cleared that, “A total sum of N4,274,345,932.78bn had since been refunded to the Zamfara State Government and its employees in line with the provisions of Section 55(2) of the Zamfara State and Local Government Pension Scheme Law 2019, while the sum of N379,226,546.10 million was retained in the RSAs of employees that secured jobs with other employers.”