New PenCom Boss and Task Ahead
CHIGOZIE AMADI
With the appointment of Omolola Oloworaran as the new PenCom Director General, Ebere Nwoji points to her the task ahead
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the weekend announced the appointment of Ms. Omolola Bridget Oloworaran as the new Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
The sack of the former PenCom DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar who took over the mantle of leadership of the Pension Commission in 2017, preceded this.
Dahir – Umar served in acting capacity as PenCom DG for three years and was confirmed as Director General in October 2020.
Dahir- Umar’s tenure as PenCom boss was marked by series of lapses especially in the area of projecting and marketing the 20 year old Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to Nigerians most of who are still very much ignorant of the CPS system after its 20 years regime in the country.
With Oloworaran’s appointment, hopes are high that most of the existing gaps between the CPS system and average Nigerian worker and entrepreneur in the area of understanding the value and workings of pension and willingness to embrace it will be bridged due to her pedigree in financial matters and extensive experience and accomplishments in the financial sector.
With over 15 years in the financial services industry, her career is said to be a testament to her capabilities and leadership qualities, making her a fitting choice for the high-profile appointment.
Available records about her versatility in finance service industry shows that Oloworaran’s journey in the financial sector is marked by significant roles at leading financial institutions, reflecting her expertise and leadership acumen.
Prior to her PenCom appointment, she was a key figure at FirstBank Nigeria, serving as the Head of Transaction Banking Operations since June 2019 according to information contained in her Linkendin Profile.
However, her profile at First Bank suggests she is currently a Deputy General Manager, Group Head, First Shared Services.
Before her tenure at FirstBank, Oloworaran made notable contributions at Stanbic IBTC. From January 2016 to June 2019, she led the International Business Center, where she managed international banking operations and cultivated global business relationships.
Her role as Head of Global Market Operations from November 2013 to January 2016 further demonstrated her capability in managing complex financial systems and operations.
Oloworaran’s professional journey is distinguished by her versatility and experience across various financial domains. At FDHL GROUP, she served as a Consultant from May 2013 to November 2013, offering strategic insights and solutions.
Her earlier career includes a significant tenure at Renaissance Capital, where she served in various capacities, including Finance Manager and Senior Specialist, from March 2008 to April 2013. Her foundational years in the financial sector were shaped by her role at Citigroup, where she was involved in Treasury Operations from June 2004 to March 2008. This experience laid a solid groundwork for her subsequent roles, equipping her with a robust understanding of financial operations and management.
With her rich background in finance services sector public expectations are high that she will deliver at the commission, which is the last hope of Nigerian workers and self-employed.
Pension stakeholders who spoke to THISDAY on her new appointment were very optimistic that her presence at PenCom would make the difference.
Area of Expectations
As an astute finance manager, it is expected that Oloworaran will ensure that the already accumulated N20.22 trillion pension assets is intact in terms of investment in assets classes.
She will also ensure that much talked about borrowing of pension fund by the federal government for infrastructural investment is not done to the detriment of contributors.
The Task Ahead
Industry watchers said one big task waiting for the new PenCom DG, which was a hard nut to break by Dahir-Umar is continued push for public awareness and acceptance of the Contributory Pension system.
Although in its 20 years of practice in Nigeria, the CPS scheme has recorded massive achievements having accumulated over N20.22 trillion compared with N2 trillion deficit left behind by the old pension scheme. However, a lot still need to be done to advance the system.
The need for this awareness creation among Nigerians on the CPS was what propelled all the pension fund administrators in Nigeria under the aegis of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) to propose a nationwide media campaign to enlighten Nigerians on the relevance of pension savings.
Industry analysts said the awareness is very important and worth doing considering the fact that aside the CPS which recorded rapid growth due to its compulsory nature, the Micro Pension Scheme which is not compulsory has not recorded the desired growth as many self employed who were supposed to key into the scheme are still skeptical about the scheme just as many employers of labour, including state governments, are yet to key into the scheme.
The result of this is that the Micro pension scheme launched in 2019 by the former President Muhammadu Buhari with the target of registering 8 million contributors in five years barely registered only 77,689 contributors in three years.
It is obvious that the scheme has not achieved its target and is likely not going to achieve it because three years after the target setting it could not achieve 1 per cent of the projection. One wonders if the remaining one year would work the magic of meeting the set target. This situation has been worsened by the heightening inflation rate which has left the masses with poor disposable income, making the people’s interest towards savings to wane.
Many state governments are yet to embrace the scheme. This being the case, the incoming PenCom DG has got a lot of work at hand in order to harness the opportunities embedded in the pension scheme.
One of these challenges is how to make state governments key into the scheme.
The Former PenCom DG, Chinelo Anohu- Amazu laid a solid foundation for the take off of the Micro pension, it took off during the regime of Dahir-Umar but inactivity lack of push resulted in the stagnation of the scheme. All eyes are on the new PenCom DG to drive the Micro Pension scheme.
Way Forward
Therefore to drive the scheme, the new pension DG has to see herself as the chief campaigner, chief marketer, and the driver of the industry and must be ready to sell pension to any available person.
She should take the message of relevance of pension savings to every part of the country, speak about pension at every public gathering. She should adopt eloquence, interactive and persuasive spirit in order to bring more people into pension side.
She should not give up hope on winning state governments but should gird her belt for courtesy visits to various state governments in order to get them sign their acts and adopt CPS.
She can emulate the insurance sector by taking pension message to public places like motor parks, Ports and other similar public places to educate them on Micro pension.
Also, she should take the campaigns to universities and other institutions of higher learning where she can meet the youths and prepare their minds on the need to save through pension as soon as they graduate and get jobs through self employment or paid jobs.
The new PenCom DG should study the lapses in the system that made some contributors to choose to be exempted from the CPS and address those lapses .Eg is the Nigerian police force and aviation workers who have been itching to exit from the CPS.
The issue of non-payment of accrued rights by government is one thing that has been trying to truncate the success of the CPS. The new DG should try and persuade government for timely release of workers’ accrued rights to avoid scattering the CPS and leave Nigerian workers hopeless at the end of the day.
The review of the 2014 act is the word in the mouth of every pension stakeholder, therefore, the new PenCom boss should present this to the lawmakers pointing out areas that should be amended especially sections that said that accrued rights must enter a contributor’s account before paying what she has saved.
Also because of effects of inflation on the contributors’ savings, the new DG should liaise with the senate committee on pension for approval of investment of pension fund in foreign instrument. She should consolidation on the achievements so far made on mortgage financing using workers’ savings and see a way of relaxing some stringent conditions in the assessment of the fund.
Most importantly, Oloworaran should create trust in the system by attending to issues raised by the contributors in their areas of difficulty in accessing their money. She should punish erring operators, and make interest of contributors of paramount importance.
She should align with the media in propagating the message of savings through pension contributions.
