UBA Pensions Pays N3.5Bn to 25,000 Retirees

Bayo Yusuf, Managing Director, UBA Pensions Custodian, has said the company currently pays the sum of N3.5bn on a monthly basis as retirement benefits to 25,000 retirees.

Yusuf disclosed this in Abuja while speaking during a chat with journalists at the sidelines of the World Pension Summit for Africa.

He said the amount was paid by his company on behalf of the 10 Pension Fund Administrators whose fund are currently being managed by it.

He said, “We are pension fund custodians and we have specific roles in the act. Number one is collection on behalf of PFAs.

“We are custodians to ten of the 27 PFAs and of this 10; we are on a monthly basis collecting the range of about N17bn to N18bn in terms of collection.

“We also settle transactions on behalf of PFAs and when we settle transactions, we collect the instruments representing that investment.

“We also collect the income accruing to all this investment and we also pay benefits to retirees and every month, for those that are on programmed withdrawals.

“We make payment on behalf of our PFA and that is in excess of 25,000 retirees that we pay on a monthly basis and we pay in excess of N3.5bn.”

Yusuf commended the efforts of the Federal Government to grow the pension fund assets to N16trn within the next 20 years, but added the target would be achieved before the set date when the informal sector is brought into the Contributory Pension Scheme.

He said, “In the informal sector, we have about 17.6 million employers having about 43 million employees.

“The pension industry has been growing at a rate of about 30 per cent without contributions from the informal sector. So imagine the type of growth we would record if this sector is brought into the industry.”

He also said the new pension reform act which was signed into law last week by President Goodluck Jonathan would not only to consolidate the gains of the reforms, it also help identify the challenges militating its contribution to national development.

The new act, he added, would also provide the enabling legal environment to facilitate the creation of quality instruments through which pension assets could be best invested for infrastructure and real estate development.

He said that UBA pensions had commenced the digitalisation of pension payments noting that the move would help streamline payment procedures as well as ensure prompt collection of pension benefits.

He said, “The number of Retirement Savings Account is growing, right now we are just six million RSAs and we are talking of bringing the informal sector into it.

“So we are working with the banks in such a way that for the informal sector, with your phones, you can remit our pension contribution. You don’t need to go to the bank.

“What this means is that technology is going to be a major game changer in pension administration in the few months and years to come.”