The National Pension Commission (“PENCOM”) on 28 January 2019 granted its approval for the operation of the Nigerian University Pension Management Company (“NUPEMCO”) as a Pension Fund Administrator (“PFA”) based on an evaluation of NUPEMCO’s compliance with PENCOM’s stipulated requirements.
NUPEMCO is the teachers’ union pension company and will now carry on the business of a PFA in all universities. PENCOM had previously refused to approve the operation of the pension company which had become one of the key issues in the dispute between the Academic State Union of Universities (“ASUU”) and the Federal Government of Nigeria that resulted in the ongoing strike.
The grant of the operational PFA license to NUPEMCO will put pressure on the PFAs that currently manage the employee contributions of universities academic staff. It is expected that PENCOM will direct these PFAs to transfer the pension contributions that they currently manage to NUPEMCO as it did in 2014 when the Nigeria Police Force Pensions was licensed to administer the pension contributions of members of the Police Force.
We await further information from PENCOM on how the new PFA will handle the pensions of university retirees.
