PENCOM commends Otti on his plan to set up seamless pension scheme
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is full of praises for Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, for his commitment to setting up an effective, seamless Pension Scheme in the state. that will outlive his tenure as the State Governor.
Director-General of PENCOM, Ms. Omolola Bridget-Oloworaran, who led some top officials of the Commission on a working visit to the Governor Otti on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at his Umuehim Nvosi country home, said the Governor’s proposed Pension Scheme would outlive his administration.
Recall that the Governor recently assented to the Abia State Reform Pension Law passed by the Abia State House of Assembly.
During the visit, Ms. Bridget-Oloworaran commended Dr. Otti for clearing backlog of pension arrears that he met on assumption of office and signing the Abia State reform Pension Law 2024.
“I am happy with the steps that Abia State has taken in passing the State Pension Reform Law 2024.
“Your Excellency, I want to thank you for these two great steps -signing the law and your commitment to wanting the CPS (Contributory Pension Scheme) – to stay not just during your tenure but long after you have gone.
“Abia State is poised to become a mother of sustainable development for employee’s welfare and I believe you are setting an example across the whole South East because as at today, there is no state in the South East that is fully compliant under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“If Abia State moves fast, you will be able to set an Example across the whole of the South East region and I dare say across the country, in terms of some of the controls that you have put in place to ensure that this scheme not only survives your own tenure but live beyond,” she said.
According to her, the Abia State pension Law parades a thoroughly work. However, she suggested that the State Government needed to look into areas such as employees Biometric verification, working with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to open or generate codes for employers, constituting the Pension Board, remittance of contributions to the CPS and including Pensioners in Health Insurance, among others.
Responding, Governor Otti thanked the PenCOM DG, saying that government was happy with the passage of the Pension law. “We are also glad that the law we passed last month received a very kind commendation from you. We are not experts in this, we just sit back and ask ourselves, what can we do for this people that may not be able to do so much for themselves at this time, who have also spent the active years of their lives working for the State,” the Governor said.
Talking about the pensioners, the Governor said, “When we came in, we found that some of them were being owed for so many years, up to 2014. We felt that we needed to sit down with them, find a way to take it out completely. What we have done from this year is to ensure that close to 12,500 pensioners in the State receive 100 percent of their pensions every month.
“We think that it is the right way to go. To setup a system where whether we are in power or not in power, they can be sure that their monthly stipend comes regularly. Whatever it is, that it will come and they can live their normal lives. We are actually at the verge of setting up the board but needed to ensure that everything is in order,” Governor Otti said.
He assured that the government would heed to the advice on the management of the funds, both from the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs), as well as keep to the Pension Law and work on all points raised to ensure a seamless system for the State.
On health Insurance, Governor Otti said, “Interestingly, we set up an Abia Health Insurance Agency which has started working and we started with civil servants. Just last month, I set aside N500 million as marching fund for civil servants into the Abia State Health Insurance Agency.
“We will be thinking on how to ensure that the pensioners can benefit from it, maybe we have to increase the funds.”
The Governor said that availability and accessibility were key in implementing health insurance, noting that if Primary, Secondary and Tertiary healthcare systems were not working, no matter how much insurance or free healthcare you provide to attend to the healthcare needs of the people, nothing will work.
Governor Otti asked the Pencom DG and her team to continue to provide the needed guidance to the government’s team towards creating a perfect pension scheme for the state as there was no need reinventing the wheel.
The Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Engr. Ikechukwu Emetu, Special Adviser to the Governor on Monitoring and Evaluation, Mazi Ugochukwu Okoroafor and the Technical Assistant to the Governor, Charles Egonye, were among government functionaries that joined the Governor in the meeting with the PenCom team.
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