E-Financial
PenCom, PFAs Identify Challenges to Micro Pension Implementation in Nigeria
Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have highlighted the challenges they have faced in their efforts to smoothly push the federal government’s Micro Pension plan initiative to the targeted market.
However, they said in the mist of the challenges, increased public awareness and review of the guidelines among others is the way to go.
Speaking at the recent Micro Pension Open Day organised by the umbrella body of pension fund administrators, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) in Lagos, they said the challenges were of two folds from the informal sector workers and PFAs.
From the informal sector workers they highlighted the challenges as lack of awareness, mistrust about the pension system, absence of appropriate incentives such as collateral for Micro finance and lack of financial literacy.
From the PFAs, they pointed out the challenges as short term perspectives base of the Micro pension plan and perceived associated costs, inadequate awareness campaigns, slow adoption of shared services arrangements by pension fund operators, poor service delivery, weak economic indices occasioned by inflation as well as increased poverty levels.
The Head, Micro Pensions Department National Pension Commission, Dauda Ahmed, who highlighted the challenges, said they have impacted negatively on the implementation efforts of both the pension fund administrators and PenCom.
He listed efforts made so far to push the Micro pension scheme to the targeted market as collaborations and stakeholders’ engagements through engineering leaderships of associations, unions cooperatives, civil society organisation and the media.
He also said the commission made further effort in renewing awareness campaign drive by in print, electronic and social media platforms among other efforts.
He said with these efforts, a total of 97,591 contributors have so far registered into the Micro pension scheme as at May 31, 2023 while a total of N435,607,515,14 has been contributed.
He said out of this, contingent withdrawals stood at N30,243,070.69 by 150 Micro pension contributors while a total of 587 contributors have converted from Micro pension to formal Contributory Pension Scheme.
On the way forward to achieve the set objectives of the Micro pension scheme Ahmed said there was need for increased enlightenment and public awareness campaign by the regulator and PFAs, review of the MPP Guidelines, further drive of the development of incentives, development of industry shared services platform, enhanced service delivery among others.
Presenting a paper titled, “Current Financial Inclusion Landscape,” Research Associate at EFlnA, Chioma Nwaiwu said Nigeria had plan to have 95 per cent of its population financially included in 2024.
She noted that there had been improvement in number of people using formal financial services adding that it had increased from 48.4 million to 50.5 percent of adults or 53.6 million adults.
She also noted that nearly one in two Nigerian adults do not use any formal or regulated financial services while more than one in three Nigerian adults remained completely financially excluded.
She said 65 percent of Nigerian adults are financially included.
“While overall financial inclusion continues to grow incrementally, progress has been too slow to meet national financial inclusion strategy targets” she noted.
She also observed that there was need for increased uptake and usage of pensions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets, which were poverty reduction, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth and reduced inequalities.
According to her, pension reduces the risk of poverty among retirees, out of job persons as well as informally employed persons and provides financial resources for healthcare during retirement
She also said pension incentivise savings and support economic stability, observing that Pension reduces inequality by extending social protection benefits to marginalised and underserved population.
She noted that there was a critical mass to scale up Micro pension in the informal sector of Nigerian economy pointing out that 49.8 million Nigerians were in the informal sector.
She noted that most informal sector workers plan to rely on their savings, children or businesses in retirement.
Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is facing a major financial scandal after hackers reportedly siphoned N9.3 billion from multiple customer accounts.
The breach, which occurred on March 23, 2025, has led to an urgent legal battle as the bank seeks to freeze accounts suspected of receiving the stolen funds.
Court filings reveal that the cybercriminals exploited a critical system glitch, discreetly transferring the money in small amounts across 54 financial institutions to evade detection.
Oluwasegun Falola, Union Bank’s Head of E-Fraud Investigations, confirmed that tracking the transactions has been challenging due to their fragmented nature.
Acting swiftly, the bank filed a lawsuit (FHC/L/CS/629/2025) at the Federal High Court in Lagos, requesting an emergency order to halt further withdrawals. On April 2, 2025, the bank’s legal team, led by A. Adedoyin-Adeniyi, informed the court that the stolen funds were still being actively moved—suggesting an ongoing laundering operation.
In response, Justice Deinde Dipeolu granted a Post No Debit (PND) order, freezing all implicated accounts pending further investigation.
This crisis comes just 15 months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dissolved Union Bank’s former board over governance failures. Under the leadership of MD Yetunde Oni, the bank now faces intense scrutiny as customers demand accountability.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a comprehensive review of documentation requirements for transactions processed through the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), aimed at enhancing intra-African trade, promoting financial inclusion, and improving operational efficiency for cross-border payments within Africa.
In a press release issued on Monday, the CBN outlined key updates to the documentation framework in a circular addressed to Authorised Dealer Banks (ADBs) and the general public.
The revised guidelines are part of the CBN’s ongoing efforts to streamline processes and support seamless financial transactions across the continent.
Under the new framework, individuals conducting low-value transactions up to USD 2,000 equivalent in naira and corporates transacting up to USD 5,000 equivalent in naira can now rely on basic Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) documents already provided to their ADBs.
This measure simplifies compliance requirements for smaller transactions and reduces administrative burdens.
For transactions exceeding the specified thresholds, parties must comply with the full documentation requirements as outlined in the CBN Foreign Exchange Manual and related circulars to ensure regulatory compliance.
Applicants are also responsible for ensuring that all necessary regulatory documents are available to facilitate the clearance of goods as mandated by relevant government agencies.
The new policy permits ADBs to source foreign exchange for PAPSS settlements directly from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market, eliminating the previous requirement to obtain forex directly from the CBN.
Additionally, all export proceeds repatriated via PAPSS must be certified by the relevant processing banks to promote transparency and regulatory adherence.
The CBN urged all ADBs to adopt PAPSS and commence originating transactions in accordance with the updated policy.
Exporters, importers, and individuals were encouraged to familiarize themselves with the new requirements and leverage PAPSS for efficient cross-border transactions across Africa.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service has directed banks across the country to immediately identify and close any tax and levy collection accounts not authorised under its TaxPro Max platform.
The directive, aimed at promoting transparency and ensuring uniformity in tax collection, was disclosed in a public notice titled “Directive to close unauthorised FIRS tax collection accounts,” issued by the FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, and circulated to journalists on Monday by his Special Adviser on Media, Dare Adekanmbi.
According to the notice, all tax and levy collections must now be processed exclusively through assessments generated on the TaxPro Max system.
The FIRS warned that all banks participating in its collection, remittance, and reconciliation scheme must comply without delay, discontinue the use of unauthorised accounts, and ensure only transactions initiated from the TaxPro Max platform are processed.
“We count on your cooperation to ensure a smooth transition to this centralised system, thereby contributing to a more transparent and efficient tax collection process,” the agency stated.
Developed locally, the TaxPro Max platform facilitates key tax activities such as taxpayer registration, filing of returns, payment processing, and the issuance of tax clearance certificates.
It was introduced to streamline tax administration and support the FIRS’s broader digitalisation agenda.
The agency also urged taxpayers and stakeholders seeking clarification to contact its Revenue Accounting and Refund Department.
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