PRESIDENCY SPOTS ERRORS IN 2014
PENSION ACT
• AGF retrieves law for correction, gazzeting
The 2014 Pension Act, which President
Goodluck Jonathan assented to early this
month, has been sent back to the Office of
Attorney-General of Federation (AGF) and
Minister of Justice following the discovery of
some errors in it, New Telegraph learnt
yesterday.
A source said the AGF office was studying
the law with the aim of correcting the
defects which could hobble the
implementation of the Pension Act, which
revised the old one.
He said the AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr.
Mohammed Adoke (SAN), was going through
the law with a view to correcting figures and
spelling mistakes that were detected after
the president had gave his assent to it on
July 1.
For instance he said “whereas the new 2014
Act makes Contributory Pension Scheme
compulsory for any private sector employer
that employs maximum of three workers to
enrol his workers for Retirement Savings
Accounts(RSA), we discovered a mistake in
the maximum figure for private workers
which was typed as15 instead of three.”
New Telegraph also learnt that the
implementation of the new pension scheme
may take time because the AGF office would
have to gazette the Act and send same to
the National Pension Commission (PenCom)
to issue implementation and enforcement
guidelines.
When contacted by New Telegraph for more
details on the errors in the law, Chief Press
Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Mr.
Ambrose Momoh, in a telephone interview,
said he was not aware that the Act had
been sent back to the ministry. PenCom
Head, Corporate Communications, Emeka
Onuorah, was not available to comment on
the matter.
The president had given assent to the law,
which was enacted to correct some lapses
that characterised the 2004 Pension Act.
Some provisions contained in the 2014
Pension Act lauded by both Pension Funds
Administrators(PFAs) and Pension
Custodians were that operators who
mismanage pension funds on conviction are
liable to not less than 10 years
imprisonment or fine of an amount equal to
three times the amount so misappropriated
or both imprisonment and fine.
The new law has increased RSA contribution
both by employer and employees from 15
per cent to 18 per cent, representing 8 per
cent contribution by an employee and 10 per
cent by his employer.
Besides, the new law has reduced the
number of employees an employer must
have on his payroll to qualify for
participation in the contributory pension
scheme from five to three.
Source: New Telegraph