The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has extended the deadline for the ongoing mandatory One-Time Online Verification and Enrolment Exercise for employees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to Dec. 31.
PenCom announced the extension in a statement issued on Tuesday, saying the exercise, which commenced in February, was initially scheduled to end on July 31.
It said that the extension followed several requests by MDAs for additional time to enable eligible employees to participate in the online enrolment process.
The commission urged eligible employees who were yet to enrol, as well as those who had started but not completed the process, to take advantage of the extension.
According to PenCom, the exercise is aimed at ensuring that the accrued pension rights of eligible employees are accurately determined ahead of retirement.
The commission attributed the extension partly to low participation in the exercise.
It said that as of July, MDAs had uploaded 62,320 records of active employees and retirees, while only 31,099 employees had successfully completed the enrolment process.
PenCom said that the figures were below the estimated 150,000 active Federal Government employees entitled to accrued pension rights.
The commission explained that the exercise was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to settle pension liabilities carried over from the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), which preceded the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004.
It said Section 15(1) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 provided for accrued pension rights for employees who transited from the DBS to the CPS.
The accrued rights comprise pension and gratuity benefits earned by eligible employees from their date of first appointment up to June 30, 2004.
PenCom said that the determination of the accrued rights was based on an actuarial valuation process.
It added that the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, in a circular dated April 27, directed all treasury-funded MDAs to support the exercise and ensure that eligible employees completed the One-Time Enrolment as required by the commission.
According to the commission, the exercise is essential for determining the Federal Government’s outstanding pension liabilities and making adequate budgetary provisions for their settlement.
PenCom said that the enrolment exercise was fully digital and conducted through its Contributions and Bond Redemption Application (COBRA), a platform designed to facilitate data capture, validation and processing.
It explained that early completion of the exercise would facilitate the determination of accrued pension rights and enable the necessary funding to be secured from the Federal Government.
The commission said the funds would subsequently be credited to the employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) ahead of retirement, enabling the funds to earn investment returns and boost retirement benefits.
PenCom said that MDAs were required to upload details of eligible employees on the COBRA platform, after which the affected employees were expected to visit their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) with the required documents to complete the enrolment process.
It added that Pension Desk Officers (PDOs), who had been trained by PenCom, were responsible for coordinating the exercise within their organisations and guiding employees through the process.
The commission said it would continue to collaborate with MDAs, PFAs and other stakeholders to improve awareness, facilitate participation and ensure that eligible employees were properly captured.
PenCom urged eligible employees and treasury-funded MDAs not to delay the completion of the exercise in spite of the extension.
It said all active employees of Federal Government treasury-funded MDAs who were in service as at June 30, 2004 were covered by the accrued pension rights provisions.
The commission called on all eligible employees and treasury-funded MDAs to take full advantage of the extension and complete the enrolment exercise before the new deadline.
