The National Pension Commission, PenCom has sought the collaboration of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to deal with fraudulent activities in the nation’s pension industry, especially the challenge of unremitted pension funds by some employers.
Director General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran made the demand in Abuja on Thursday, when she led a delegation from her office to the headquarters of the EFCC.
The DG raised concerns over the disturbing trend where many employers fail to remit the mandatory pension contributions of their employees to their retirement savings accounts as required by Pension Reform Act 2004.
She said most disturbing is the fact that many employers do not only fail to remit the supposed 10 percent as employers, they also deduct the required 8 percent contribution of the employees and yet, fail to remit to their retirement savings account.
Commending the EFCC for its stride in fighting corruption, Oloworaran expressed confidence in the ability of the Commission to help deal with the situation and bring the recalcitrant employers to justice.
“Employees are stealing from Nigerians. And we need a way to recover this monies from them. We are looking for a more effective way to manage this situation. We believe you can help us. We think that the EFCC is better placed to manage this issue,” she said,
Also, Ahmed Lawan, acting director in the compliance and enforcement department at PenCom said the major concern is where the employers deduct the pension funds and refuse to remit, thereby denying them of their retirement benefits. He said the situation has contributed to causing untold hardship for many retirees.
“We need an effective and efficient way to handle this. We need a framework of collaboration between PenCom and EFCC to address this menace,” he said.
Reacting, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyode described the development as fraudulent while assuring of his commitment to ensuring that the alleged crime is investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Commander of the EFCC, CE Michael Nzekwe, the EFCC Chairman said he will give the report an accelerated action and rid the pension industry of such life-threatening fraudulent practices against Nigerians.
“That’s fraud. We have had to deal with such issues before now. We will deal with this one also. We will look deeply into it; and I can assure whatever needs to be done would be done to ensure all the outstanding monies are recovered,” he stated.