The managing director of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Wilson Ideva has stated that retirement that is not preceded by proper planning and preparedness could spell disaster for both the retiree and the society. Mr. Ideva made this assertion recently in Asaba while delivering a paper at the 2nd edition of the Delta State Bureau of State Pensions Annual Lecture Series held at Orchid Hotel in Asaba.
“Enjoying a hitch-free retirement goes beyond receiving a lump-sum and regular programmed withdrawal from one’s Retirement Savings Account (RSA)” said Ideva while delivering the paper entitled “Towards Sustaining Stronger Relations Between State and Local Government Bureaux of Pensions and Pension Fund Administration: The Delta State Experience.” “It requires in-depth planning and profound mental and psychological conditioning of the retiring worker to equip him to seamlessly adjust to a different kind of life after decades of service to society.” He added.
Ideva dwelt extensively on the consequences of lack of understanding of the basic requirements for a happy life in retirement and associated ill-preparedness for it. “A retirement ill-prepared for could spell disaster both for the retiree and the society and consequently give the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) a bad name and erode the initial gains” noted Mr. Ideva. “The onus falls on the Bureaux of Pensions and the pension operators to run preparatory programmes for workers, especially those on the verge of retirement.” He further asserted that economically, socially and psychologically stable retirees are the most effective advertisement for the CPS.
He called for synergy of all stakeholders in the CPS to ensure that the gains of the industry in the past decade are sustained. “Partnership of relevant government institutions, especially the Bureaux of Pension and the pension operators in the country is the sine qua non for sustaining the current gains of the Contributory Pension Scheme and even expanding its scope and proliferating its inherent opportunities” he said while calling for the prioritization of awareness creation on the importance and workings of the CPS.
To ensure that many more workers are covered by the pension scheme, he further advised that every government plan to expand and/or redefine its programmes even as it relates to the private sector must incorporate in-built strategies to accommodate the pension requirements of participants, beneficiaries and key actors as the case may be.
He also noted that expanding the CPS to the informal sector of the economy as permitted by the Pension Reform Act 2014 requires some measure of creativity and professionalism on the part of key actors to actualize.
“The CPS is one of the most successful government initiatives that still harbours even greater potential and It requires ingenious and concerted approaches to lift it to the next level.” he said.
Ideva also seized the occasion to commend the Delta State Government under the leadership of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for its pioneering effort in entrenching the CPS. “Thanks to the solid structures put in place by the Delta State Government, the CPS has been irreversibly entrenched in the state” and “The State stands out as one of the most consistent states in the processing and remittance of workers/government contribution to workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) as well as payment of retirement and death benefits” , he further stressed.
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“Needless to say that the success of CPS has rekindled workers’ confidence in the system and by extension generated a conducive environment for loyalty and increased productivity”, and this accounts to some extent for the highly impressive achievements recorded by the State Government in recent times” he added.
