Operators in the Contributory Pension Scheme are putting in place measures that will help Nigerians in the informal sector to cultivate a savings habit and have retirement accounts.
This was contained in a report on informal sector participation in the CPS, which was obtained from the National Pension Commission.
“In the effort to encourage a informal sector participation in the CPS, the commission developed and distributed the framework for the informal sector participation in the CPS to all stakeholders for comments,” it stated.
The report said the input from various stakeholders had been collated and subsequently incorporated into the framework to usher the informal sector into the system.
The Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, said the Federal Government planned to introduce millions of workers in the informal sector to the CPS, using the micro pension initiative.
She added that a nationwide dialogue with self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector was ongoing ahead of the commencement of the micro pension scheme in the country.
“Government hopes to bring at least 20 million informal sector workers and self-employed persons into the scheme in the next four years; necessary arrangements are being put in place to ensure a smooth take-off of the scheme later this year,” she said.
The Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Mr. Misbahu Yola, said the operators were working on a framework to bring the informal sector into the scheme because there was an obvious gap between workers in Nigeria and those that the operators had registered under the CPS.
He said, “We only need a framework that will enhance identity, and be able to educate the artisans so that they would understand pension as opposed to savings, which would enable them to appreciate the essence of saving for retirement,” he said.
According to Yola, it is important for workers to have pension accounts if they are to have the deserved comfortable lifestyle at retirement.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com
from The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper http://ift.tt/1PdReIM
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment