CSOs, or Civil Society Organisations, On Wednesday, the President Bola-ahmed Tinubu was encouraged by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, or CCSG, to continue his support for the Nigerian pension system.
This was said by the Coalition’s Chairman, Ohaleye Wisdom, during a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
In the interest of elderly persons and all other members of the community, Wisdom predicted that the assistance would lead to a joint success.
“In the interest of our senior citizens and all other members of our society, we call on President Bola Tinubu to sustain the federal government’s support towards the complete overhaul of the country’s pension sector,” he stated.
Wisdom denied the claims of corruption made against Aisha Dahir-Umar, the director general of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), and claimed they were spiteful, frivolous, and unjustified.
According to Wisdom, among other allegations made in the petition, the management of PenCom under the direction of Mrs. Aisha Umar-Dahir was charged of receiving a sizable sum of money in estacode.
The Director General, he said, “has dwarfed the records of all her predecessors through her sterling performance, at the risk of sounding conceited, and has gone on to raise the country’s pension asset from N6.42 trillion Naira in 2017 when she came on board to N15.5 trillion Naira in February 2023.
“She oversaw the successful recapitalization of the pension industry from N1 billion to N5 billion, which without a doubt increased investor and other stakeholder confidence throughout the pension value chain.”
They added that the introduction of the Micro Pension Plan for the inclusion of workers from the unorganised sector in the Contributory Pension Scheme and the approval of a structured reduction in fees on the Net Asset Value of pension fund assets are both firsts for the country’s pension industry.
The mortgage programme for owners of retirement savings accounts (RSAs), which allows RSA holders to use the balance of their RSA funds for mortgage purposes, is just one of the many wonderful initiatives she has implemented, they said.
They claim that the previous President approved the sum of N159.466 billion for the settlement of unpaid accrued rights and other pension liabilities of the government retirees as a result of the DG’s demonstrable reformatory efforts. That is a clear demonstration of trust in Mrs. Dahir-Umar’s direction of PenCom.
“It is also laughable that these same accusers have made it their business to try to win over any administration that takes office by fabricating a deluge of unsupported lies against heads of institutions and parastatals,” they said. Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, they tried the similar thing but failed.
According to him, “While we pass a vote of confidence on the Director General of PenCom, we appeal to all stakeholders to ignore the unfounded allegations against her and continue to offer support as she is poised to give all Nigerians a life worth living post-retirement.”
