PenCom rallies Newspapers’ proprietors to drive pension remittance for media practitioners

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says it will forge a strategic partnership with the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) to ensure compliance of pension remittance by managers of media organisations in Nigeria.

Director General of the National Pension Commission, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, made the disclosure in Abuja when she led her management team on a courtesy visit to the President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Malam Kabiru Yusuf, on Monday.

She said the purpose of the visit was to seek support for the compliance within the media sector to conform to the Pension Reform Act of 2014, which mandates that all employers must remit pension contributions for their employers on a monthly basis within seven days.

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Accordingly, the DG highlighted that the mandate of PenCom is to enforce and ensure full compliance with the Act and as part of the drive for compliance, the commission has been having several meetings with employers across the country, while noting that many media houses are not remitting pension for their staff as employers currently owe over N700 million in pension remittance.

“A couple of weeks ago, we met with the Press Council as well to help us in this drive to ensure compliance with the Pension Reform Act. What we do in PenCom is we try to engage employers and get all employers to be compliant with the Act by ensuring that everyone is contributing towards the financial security of their staff. So, we are the watchdogs to enforce that. Unfortunately, it’s been a tall task particularly within the media sector.

“The findings are very troubling because based on the investigations we’ve done, the media houses are owing pension contributions to the tune of N720million. That’s a whole lot.

“It seems to me like a number of them don’t even bother to pay at all. And it’s striking because we hold the media in high esteem in society. And like I said, the media helps to shape national discourse and we hope and assume that at least they will be leading in the case of contributing pensions for their workers,” she added.

She, however, commended Media Trust Group for being the sole media outfit that has been compliant with remitting staff pension into their Retirement Savings Account (RSA).

“I must first of all commend Daily Trust because you have essentially been leading by example in this area. You’ve been compliant since 2015.

“So, I would like to thank the management of Daily Trust for being the sole compliant media house and  for recognising workers welfare and contributing towards their financial security,” she added.

She reiterated that the purpose of the visit was not focused on being punitive but to seek NPAN’s collaboration towards financial security of workers

In his response, the President of NPAN who also doubles as the Chairman Board of Directors of Media Trust Group, Malam Kabiru Yusuf, noted that newspaper houses are struggling to survive as many cannot pay salaries, let alone remit pension.

“The industry is in deep trouble. Maybe that is partly why this compliance is not happening. I do know for a fact that many newspapers cannot even pay their obligation to their staff,” he noted.

To address the situation, He said  “We have a super group called the Nigerian Press Organisation which is made up of the NPAN, the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Union of Journalists. We work together sometimes. So, it is important to arrange a meeting with all these associations and chart a way forward,” he explained.

He proposed that the meeting be slated in August or September to interface with PenCom to find a lasting solution to pension remittance in the media industry.