Pension contributions decreased to N880bn in 2021, says PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says the total pension contributions remitted into the retirement savings account (RSAs) of employees dropped to N880.66 billion at the end of 2021.

This is contained in the 2021 annual report recently released by the commission.

According to the report, the figure represents a 3 percent decline compared to the N908.09 billion recorded during the corresponding period in 2020.

“The total pension contributions remitted into the RSAs of employees in both the public and private sectors in 2021 decreased slightly from N908.09 billion recorded in 2020 to N880.66 billion as at 31 December 2021,” the report reads.

“This indicated a 3.02 percent decline over the reporting period.”

According to the report, the public sector employers (federal, states and local governments) contributed a total of N492.43 billion during the year under review.

It said the figure represented a -8.29 percent decline (year-on-year) when compared with the N536.97 billion recorded in 2020.

“Cumulatively, the pension contributions credited into the RSAs of public sector employees from inception to December 31, 2020 grew from N3, 432.94 billion as at December 2020 to N3, 925.37 billion as at December 31, 2021,” the report adds.

On the other hand, the pension contribution credited into the RSAs of private sector employees increased slightly by 4.61 percent from N371.12 billion in 2020 to N388.23 billion as at December 31, 2021.

This, according to the report, indicated that the cumulative pension contribution received from the private sector from inception to December 31, 2021 “rose from N3, 270.80 billion recorded in 2020 to N3, 657.03 billion.”

The report also said a total of N326.32 billion was paid out as retirement benefits during the year 2021.

It added that the payments comprised retirement benefits and a 25 percent payout due to temporary loss of job.

Also, pension fund administrators (PFAs) earned N125.39 billion at the end of 2021.

The commission said the figure indicated an increase of 14.33 percent, compared to the total income of N109.68 billion earned in 2020.