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| Acting DG PenCom, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu |
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No. on PW 86,628, Annuitants 9,212
Chuks Udo Okonta
Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have continued their
dominance on pension benefits business as beneficiaries on Programmed
Withdrawal stood at 86,628 as at March, while annuitants, managed by life
insurers are 9,212.
According to the National Pension
Commission (PenCom), a cumulative lump-sum of N115.71 billion and average
monthly withdrawal of N24.72 billion are made on Programmed Withdrawal managed by 20 PFAs, while a cumulative lump-sum N20.48 billion,
premium of N45.27 billion and average monthly payments N465.13 million are made
on life annuity offered by about 27 life insurers.
Insurers have hinged
their inability to break into the market on de-marketing by pension operators,
an allegation the operators have denied.
Industry observers, who
are not pleased with the situation, have called on insurers to stop lamenting,
but be proactive in marketing and design of good products.
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| Thomas |
Director-General Nigerian
Insurers Association (NIA), Sunday Thomas, urged insurance operators to fight
the alleged de-marketing of annuity business by pension funds administrators
through development of good products that suit the needs of retirees.
He noted that insurers
and pension operators ought not to fight over annuity and programmed withdrawal
as the law has specified the roles to be played by the operators.
He said the menace would
have stemmed from the operators' lack of adequate knowledge of how the two
businesses operate, adding that they were designed to complement each other.
He said: “When we heard
of the issue of de-marketing between the operators, I had cause to write to
PenCom and copied NAICOM. I believe it is due to lack of adequate knowledge of
the subject.
"I happened to be
among those who were instrumental to give effect to the law, when I was with
NAICOM. And annuity was not designed to be a conflict between the institutions.
But the problem may probably be due to lack of proper understanding. The two
are supposed to complement each other.
"The role of
programmed withdrawal is totally different from life annuity. There was a time
the former Director-General of PenCom, was encouraging insurance companies to
come up with products that will attract retirees and he gave a figure of which
out of the total number of retirees, it was very small number that went by way
of life annuity.
"If I am an
operator, de-marketing will not bother me too much, all I need to do, is come
up with good products that would sufficiently be endeared in the minds of the
retirees. I would go ahead and market the products and engage in public
awareness."
He noted that the
association would intensify efforts on creating awareness on annuity and its
importance in the life of a worker.
The National Pension
Commission (PenCom) has also called on insurers to intensify efforts in
marketing annuity business instead of complaining of de-marketing.
PenCom said the complain
by some life insurers that they are denied annuity business by PFAs is
uncalled-for as the Pension Reform
Acts (PRA) 2004, has spelt out
the roles to be played life insurers and PFAs in managing retirement funds.
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