Executive Director, Premium Pension Ltd., Kabir Tijjani, has traced the wobbling uptake of contributory pension schemes by many Nigerians to the failure of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which is saddled with the responsibility of issuing National Identification Number (NIN) to deliver.
Recall that last month; JAMB abruptly relaxed the mandatory use of NIN by 2020 candidates in their registration for the entrance due to the same failure of NIMC to handle the surging number of students registering for university entrance.
According to Tijjani, the key challenge of NIMC is not having adequate personnel and infrastructure to attend to the numerous Nigerians that are seeking to get the NIN.
The pension expert made it clear that it is still a challenge for people to acquire their NIN, which would enable them to enrol for the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS), but expressed the hope for a positive change going forward.
Tijjani recalled that “We got assurances from NIMC that the government is making an effort to fund the agency adequately starting from this year, so that they would be having a number of outlets where Nigerians can go easily and register, but as it is right now, it is still a challenge.
“We don’t expect slow growth as such, but looking at it historically from the time PenCom made it mandatory for people to have NIN before enrolment, the number of enrolment declined, the Executive Director, Premium Pension Ltd noted.
