Ten years after the introduction of the contributory pension scheme in Nigeria, only 6.9 million Nigerians out of over 170 population have keyed into the scheme.
Disclosing this in Lagos, at the 2016 Workers’ Day, the Executive Secretary of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Susan Oranye, also added a total of N5.3 trillion had been contributed by employees, and not N20 trillion as being touted in some quarters.
She said although there had been a marginal growth in the past one year, in terms of participation, she insisted that a lot still needed to be done, adding that Nigerians must be encouraged to see the benefits of pension at retirement.
“As at first quarter of the year, the total fund was N5.3trillion, since May last year till now the industry has grown and that is an indication that workers are paying pension in preparation for their retirements. People understand the important of a pension that is why they are joining the contributory pension.
“The 6.9 million people that have so far subscribed to the scheme can be described as a drop in the ocean when you consider the population of the country. Though we have progressed but we are aware that there is still work to be done, if we need to reach the N60Trillion mark by 2025,” she said.
She said one of the priorities of the industry was to grow the contributory base to approximately 20 million Nigerians by 2025.
“The industry strategic direction is the 10 years primary focus. In 2025, we will be hoping to raise the number of contributors to 20million. We can say by 2017 or 2018 we would have doubled the figure. We are optimistic and for that to happen the employment rate really need to settle,” she said.