The director-general of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, says newspaper organisations in Nigeria owe retired journalists more than N1.3 billion in unpaid pension contributions.

This was revealed in a statement on Tuesday by PenCom.

Ms Oloworaran disclosed this when she led a PenCom delegation to the Nigerian Press Council.

She expressed concerns over the widespread non-compliance with the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014) among media establishments.

According to the statement, PenCom and the NPC have entered into a strategic collaboration to prevail on newspaper organisations to settle the huge pension liabilities owed to their employees.

The PRA 2014 mandates that employers remit monthly pension contributions into employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts no later than seven days after salary payments.

The PenCom chief said many media outlets failed to adhere to this requirement, prompting the commission to assign recovery agents to audit and determine their outstanding pension debts and applicable penalties.

Ms Oloworaran noted that journalists deserve to retire with dignity as they play a vital role in ensuring accountability across the public and private sectors.

She added that media organisations, in turn, must lead by example by fulfilling pension obligations to their employees.

She appealed to the NPC for support in advocating compliance within the media sector, as pension contributions were a critical safeguard against old-age poverty.

The NPC executive secretary, Dili Ezughah, reiterated the council’s support and commitment to addressing the issues.

Mr Ezughah said the NPC would escalate the matter to relevant stakeholders, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the Nigerian Guild of Editors, highlighting the significant impact of unpaid pensions on journalists’ welfare.

He noted that the failure of media organisations to remit pension contributions was a significant challenge in the Nigerian media industry.

(NAN)