The Contributory Pension and Happy Retirement Advocacy has commended President Bola Tinubu’s leadership in the pension industry over the past two years.

The COPEHRA senior technical advisor, Sani Mustapha, stated that the pension industry, under the oversight of the National Pension Commission, has shown improvements in transparency, accountability, and the integrity of the pension system.

He stated that the country’s pension fund assets reached an all-time high of N19.53 trillion in the first quarter.

According to him, the growth was driven by strong performance in equities, mutual funds and federal government securities.

He said that the Tinubu-led government approved the issuance of a ₦758 billion bond to settle outstanding pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme fully.

“The bond will also clear pension increases since 2007, amounting to N388 billion that had remained unpaid for nearly two decades. This long-overdue entitlement, benefiting over 250,000 retirees, reflects the administration’s commitment to ensuring that pensions remain fair and responsive to economic realities,” he said.

Mr Mustapha said it was the first time the federal government would be contributing N107 billion to the Pension Protection Fund. He said this was to ensure that pensioners, particularly low-income earners, receive a living wage in retirement.

Mr Mustapha said N11 billion was allocated to address the pension shortfall of university professors, fully implementing the provision that allows eligible university professors to retire on their full salary.

He said this major step was aimed at strengthening the financial security of all retirees under the scheme. He also commended the plans to amend the Pension Reform Act (PRA), which was last reviewed in 2014.

He, however, said that ensuring states yet to join the scheme do so and employers remit employees’ pension contributions to their RSA had been a concern.

(NAN)