The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that a total of 186,730 retirees have received N395 billion as lump sum from their pension benefits since the establishment of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004 and September 2016.
This was stated by the Head of Benefits and Insurance PenCom, Lana Loyinmi while Presenting a paper at just concluded two day workshop organized by the commission for Pension and Insurance, Labour, Finance journalists and Business Editors in Calabar, Cross River State.
Giving an update on Benefit Payment since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004 till September 2016, he disclosed that the retirees collected the N395 billion at the point of retirement.
He disclosed that the retirees were receiving a total of N6.4 billion on a monthly basis as monthly pension payment.
He said: “Out of the total number of 186, 730 retirees that are receiving their pension, 140,730 are on Programme Withdrawal while 40, 000 are on Life Annuity Insurance.
For those who have been out of job for more than four months and have accessed 25 per cent of their pension benefits,
Also, 177,000 pension contributors who either lost their jobs or are unemployed over four months who have accessed 25 percent of their contributions have received N5.5 billion as at the period under review.
Loyinmi who affirmed that payment of pension benefits under the CPS has been smooth since inception said the scheme also has its challenges.
According to him, the challenges are delay in remittance of accured rights by the Federal Government, low publicawareness, inadequate communications between Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), retirees and Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders and issues of misinformation.
He stated the way forward is public awareness, sanctions of erring PFAs among others.