Experts charge pension stakeholders on improved CPS awareness

By Abdul Olalekan

Participants at the just concluded training organised by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) for Insurance, Pension and Labour Correspondents and Business Editors in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, said there is low level of awareness on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), calling on relevant stakeholders to improve awareness in this regard.

The participants, comprising of pension regulator (PenCom), pension fund operators and journalists, in a communique issued at the end of the workshop, said the projection of 20 million pension contributors by 2019 is visible, if stakeholders can increase sensitisation on the new pension scheme as well as the proposed micro pension scheme.

According to the communique, “To adequately capture the informal sector, there is the need for pension industry to carry out lots of enlightenment campaigns on the scheme through trade associations and unions, while media has greater roles to play in pension propagation.”

Pension operators, according to them, must be aggressive in the marketing of pension products and services, so as to grow the pension contributors to 20 million by 2019, hence, calling for attractive incentives for subscribers so that more people can key into this scheme.

The need to drive the pension scheme through information technology, they said, is germane to its success, adding that there is the need for consistency in government policies for coordination and investment of pension assets in infrastructure.

Expressing the need for bankable projects to enable pension operators invest in infrastructure, they noted that reliable investment templates should be developed for injection of pension funds in real sector.

“For pension fund to be invested in energy sector, there is the need for correct and adequate database of power users. Insurance and pension operators as well as regulators are expected to address the issue of demarketing of Programmed Withdrawals and Annuity,” the experts pointed out.

The media, they stressed, are required to verify every information they have on pension matters before reporting it in their various media, as bad information can lead to negative perception about pension.

Balanced and fair reporting, according to the participants, are what is needed to enhance the sensitisation and understanding of the scheme.