The Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company said it has over 500 retirees on its payroll who receive monthly pensions.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NUPEMCO, Oluwakemi Ugwu, said this on Thursday in Abuja when she received a delegation from XEM Consulting Limited, a subsidiary of XEM Group, the organisers of the maiden National Pre-retirement Summit.

The delegation was led by the CEO of XEM Group, Dr Eugenia Ndukwe.

The pre-retirement Summit, earlier scheduled to take place on April 25, has been rescheduled to now hold on July 10 and 11 in Abuja.

Ms Ugwu, while hosting the delegation, said that retirement in Nigeria was a serious issue and as such, the company had placed priority on it.

“If there is anything we have been able to do, it is to ensure that we educate our clients to appreciate the contributory pension; of course, there is a difference between the contributory pension and the defined benefits.

“You know that under the defined benefits, you wait, but with the contributory pension, you sit in your house and depending on the date of payments by your PFA, you get your alerts in your account.

“I think that has made life easier for the retirees who are enjoying the benefits. You can imagine the insecurity of having to travel to different places to go and do certain things in the name of verification; it is not easy at that age. So, that is one beauty of the contributory pension. Once you have done everything and collected your lump sum, your monthly payment becomes regular.

“If we have not achieved anything, making life easier for retirees is something we should applaud the industry for,” Ms Ugwu said.

The NUPEMCO boss, who lauded the achievement of the company in five years of its existence, noted that they were able to process mortgages for some of their clients, having accessed 25 per cent from their contributory pension.

The leader of the delegation, Ms Ndukwe, who had earlier briefed the NUPEMCO boss on the aim of their visit, noted that the summit was envisaged to examine the retirement policies in Nigeria and the challenges faced by prospective retirees.

Ms Ndukwe said the major aim of the summit would be to proffer solutions to the retirement challenges in the country.

This, she said, necessitated the invitation of experts from China, Canada and a few European countries to give their country’s perspective on pension reforms.

“Pension fund managers and pension fund administrators will also benefit from this summit, not only the prospective retirees. We have decided to make participation at this summit free. This is to give room for more prospective retirees to participate, considering the economic situation in the country. The summit will be in three phases: the panel session, the technical session and the award. Those willing to participate can go to www.xemgroup.net/nps.

“The theme of the summit is ‘Challenges, strategies, prospects and opportunities at retirement in Nigeria’, and the awards during the summit will be in recognition of institutions and individuals promoting the welfare of retirees in the country,” she said.

(NAN)