In 2005, Penad had a small part to play in the major pension reform announced in Nigeria in 2003.
The Nigerian government set up a national contributory pension scheme to ensure that all Nigerians had the opportunity to save for retirement and build pension accounts. The basic structure was outside the previous Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, which was not adequately meeting the needs of citizens. The new CPS (Contributory Pension Scheme) mandated that all companies with five or more employees must enroll their workers in the scheme, and people who worked for smaller employers also had the option to join.
Upon joining, a plan member would choose an administrator from several available and would then be set up with a retirement savings account. This account would be off-limits until retirement, at which point members could draw a pension based on their contributions.
Penad’s role in all of this was to act as an advisor to a group setting up one of the administration companies. Our CEO Frank Price and our President Louise Price traveled to Lagos for meetings and to present a keynote at a conference.
Cover image from Penad’s Signature magazine after conference in Lagos.
Today, thirteen years later, the Nigerian experiment is a big success. Over 7.4 million people from 200,000 companies have joined the CPS, and pension fund assets have grown to over N6.4 trillion, with N30 billion in monthly contributions flowing into the scheme. Over 184,000 people have already retired under the plan and are drawing out pension.
A detailed summary is available here: Overview of Nigerian Pension Scheme Stats