The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says it has made significant progress in efforts to address outstanding pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Towards this end, the commission is collaborating with key stakeholders to clear all accrued pension rights and implement solutions to resolve issues of inadequate funding and delays in fund releases.
Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, Acting Director-General of PenCom, disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos during the Workshop on the Online Enrolment Application for Pension Desk Officers of Federal Government Treasury-Funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), for September/October 2024.
Oloworaran said that while delays in the release of funds have hindered timely payment of retirees’ accrued rights, efforts are underway to rectify the situation.
Our correspondent gathered that since March 2023, the federal government has not disbursed pension rights to retirees from its MDAs.
The ongoing workshop marks the start of preparations for the 2024 Online Enrolment Exercise, which will begin on October 7, 2024, pointing out that the exercise aims to collect accurate data on prospective retirees to facilitate budgetary provisions by the federal government.
The workshop also serves as a training platform for Pension Desk Officers (PDOs) to familiarize themselves with the new Enrolment Application, designed to streamline the registration, verification, and enrolment processes,she added.
She said PenCom has automated this process since 2021, introducing a comprehensive application with modules for different stakeholders.
Oloworaran emphasized the importance of these workshops for enhancing the skills of PDOs and addressing any challenges encountered in previous enrolment cycles.
She assured that PenCom is aware of occasional technical issues, assuring that it is working on developing a new Enrolment Application to improve user experience.
The Acting Director-General expressed confidence that these initiatives would contribute to better service delivery in the pension sector and assured ongoing collaboration with PDOs for a successful enrolment exercise and thanked participants and wished them a productive workshop.
