The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has urged employers to provide more benefits to their employees upon retirement.
This is against the agitations by some employees and retirees in the public service to be exempted from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS),
The Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar in a statement, said the pension contributions and Group Life policy, which the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 mandates employers to provide for their employees are the barest minimum.
She stated that the PRA 2014 allows employees to go beyond the minimum to enhance the retirement benefits of their employees.
Mrs. Dahir-Umar said the implementation of the CPS had been adjudged as successful by critical stakeholders but that there were agitations from some quarters to be exempted from the scheme.
Specifically, she said the remedy for exit agitations from the CPS could be found in Section 4(4)(a) of the PRA 2014, dealing with the payment of additional benefits upon retirement.
Section 4 (4)(a) states: “Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Act, an employer may elect for payment of additional benefits to the employee upon retirement.
She said: “Some retirees in the public service complain about low pensions. As with every human endeavour, the CPS has its share of challenges. However, these administrative challenges could be addressed within the framework of the CPS. Stakeholders must support and strengthen the CPS since the challenge of low pension can be adequately resolved within the framework provided by the scheme.
“The CPS is a sustainable pension system that has proven its capacity to achieve the ultimate goal of providing a stable, timely, predictable and adequate source of retirement income for employees in both the public and private sectors in Nigeria.
“The CPS is based on the PRA 2014, a comprehensive well thought legislation for providing pension and retirement benefits to workers. The PRA 2014 is in line with Section 173 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which guarantees the right to pensions for all public officers.