By Gabriel Atumeyi
The total number of workers with pension accounts under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose slightly to 9,265,141 as at the end of February 2021, according to the National Pension Commission.
Figures obtained from the commission on its February monthly report on Friday said the cumulative Retirement Savings Account registrations grew from the 9,147,039 recorded in Q3, 2020 to 9,215,788 as of fourth quarter, 2020, representing a 0.75 per cent growth, which was mainly attributed to increased level of compliance by both the public and private sectors.
PenCom stated that, “A review of the sectoral distribution for the quarter ended 31 December 2020 showed that 42,455 (or 62 per cent) of the registrations were from the private sector. The public sector accounted for 22,718 (or 33 per cent) of the contributors registered while the Micro Pension Plan had 3,654 (or 5.3 per cent) of the RSAs registered during the period under review.
“A breakdown of the RSA registrations during the quarter showed that about 77 per cent of those that joined the CPS were below 40 years of age.
“This points to the increasing sustainability of the CPS, as the younger generation are actively being enlisted into the scheme.
“Further analysis on the gender distribution revealed that 63 per cent of those that registered were male, while 37 per cent were female.”
According to the report, the total membership of the CPFA and AES schemes were 14,926 and 40,951 respectively as at Q4 2020.
A further review showed a decrease of 12.05 per cent in the membership of the CPFAs from 16,971 recorded as at end of Q3 2020 to 14,926 as of the end of Q4 2020.
The membership of the AESs remained the same at 40,951 between the two periods.
The commission said it generated a total of 2,896 employer codes during the quarter under review.
The private sector accounted for a total of 2,894 employer codes, representing 93.93 per cent of the total employer codes generated during the review period while the public sector accounted for only two employer codes or 0.07 per cent.