National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved the withdrawal of over N1.72 trillion for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to pay Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) holders from inception to 31 December 2022.
According to the report excerpts by The Ameh News (TAN) from pencom statement says retirees on programmed withdrawal top the list of withdrawals from Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) with a total withdrawal of N922.22 billion, followed by Death Benefits N328.05 billion, Retirees on Annuity N207.68 billion, 25% Withdrawal N188.51 billion, Enbloc withdrawal N38.71 billion and Voluntary Contribution N33.82 billion.
The total breakdown of number of retirees currently receiving their pensions under the Programmed Withdrawal agreements with Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) stood at 319,833 (FG 49.36%, State Govt anchored at 10.32% while private sector gulf 40.33%) respectively.
“The sum of N908.04 billion has been paid to retirees as lump sum while N14.18 billion has been paid as monthly programmed withdrawals, from inception to 31 December 2022, making a total payment of N922.22 billion to retirees on programmed withdrawal.
The annuity retirees who do receive their pension via Life Insurance companies. The total breakdown number of retirees receiving their retirement benefits through the annuity plan stood at 105,047 (FG 55.64%, State Govt recorded12.30% while the private sector berthed on 32.06%) respectively.
“The sum of N201.43 billion was paid as lump sum while N6.24 billion was paid as monthly annuity pension payments to retirees on annuity plan, from inception to 31 December 2022, making a total payment of N207.68 billion to retirees on annuity plan. In addition, the report further revealed that the total amount transferred from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to insurance companies by retirees for annuity premium, from inception to 31 December 2022 is N615.78 billion.
The management of PenCom disclosed that for retirees whose Retirement Savings Account (RSA) balances were N550,000 or below that was considered insufficient to procure a Programmed Withdrawal or Annuity of a reasonable amount over an expected life span, but based on the Revised Regulation on the Administration of Retirement and Terminal benefits, released in March 2022, Enbloc withdrawal now relates to retirees whose RSA balances could not provide a monthly pension of at least one third of the prevailing minimum wage (i. e. N30,000) and the retirees were subsequently paid the total balance in their RSAs. Therefore, a sum of N38.71 billion has been paid to145,313 retirees with (FG 5.13%, State Govt 2.83% and private sector 92.04%) from inception to 31 December 2022.
The report reiterated that 25% Withdrawal is a temporary access to Retirement Savings Account (RSA) for withdrawal of 25% of RSA balance for employees who were disengaged, resigned or retired from employment before the age of 50 years and were not able to secure another employment after 4 months. The sum of N188.51 billion has been paid to 453,686 (FG 2.90%, State Govt 1.82% and private sector 95.28%) RSA holders from inception to 31 December 2022.
Death benefit payments to the deceased’s beneficiaries of Retirement Savings Account holders stood at N328.05 billion for 86,610 beneficiaries as per (FG 65.59%, State Govt 9.65% and private sector 24.76%) from inception to 31 December 2022.
PenCom said Voluntary Contribution is an additional contribution which RSA holders can contribute voluntarily to boost the balance in their RSA.
According to the report, RSA holders can also withdraw their voluntary contributions before they retiree, but in accordance with the guidelines on voluntary contributions which a total of N33.82 billion was paid to 46,957 RSA holders with breakdown as follows (FG 6.44%, State Govt 0.10% and private sector 93.47%) from inception to 31 December 2022 respectively.
