The National Pension Commission(PENCOM) has concluded plans to established office in in Gombe, kano, Ilorin, Calabar and Akwa, a development  has  received commendation from operators in the pension industry.

A source which confirmed the development said that the aim was to deepen the penetration of pension knowledge in the country and that the commission would be in these zones to educate people on the need and importance of pension and why it is necessary to save for old age.

Mr. Kanu Mba, a pensioner with Universal Still Limited Lagos, said that the planned establishment of more branches by the commission would  help to bring pension matters closer to the people.

According to him: "This is the best thing that has every happened to us. We don't need to go to Abuja s every time we have a problem.”

He said that the establishment of the zonal office will help sensitise the public about pension, adding that a lot of pensioners were ignorant of what the law says about the contributory pension scheme.

Mba also called on  the commission to persuade the Pension Fund Administrators(PFA's) to open more offices in all the states, adding that not all the PFAs in the country has branches in the 36 states of the  federation.

He explained that the efforts of the commission must be complimented by the PFAs, adding that the more the branches, the more the awareness in the grass root.

He however called on PenCom to publish names of employers who had registered under the contributory pension scheme but failed to remit the monthly contributions deducted from employees’ remuneration into their retirement savings accounts.

Meanwhile, a manager with Trustfund Pensions, Mr. Mika Adah was of the opinion that the  move by the commission was a welcome development in the pension industry.

He said that the commission had been employing different approaches to entice employers to embrace voluntary compliance, including public enlightenment, media campaign and collaboration with regulatory and professional bodies.

He also assured the public that the commission would  recover the unremitted funds from the defaulters through legal means, with interest as penalty.

The Pension Reform Act 2004 was established by law and the law states that there shall be established for any employment in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Contributory Pension Scheme (in this Act referred to as "the Scheme") for payment of retirement benetits of employees to whom the Scheme applies 'under this Act.

Subject to Section 8 of this Act, the Scheme shall apply to all employees in the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory and the Private Sector in the case of the Public Sector, who are in employment; and in the case of the Private Sector, who are in employment in an organisation, in which there are 5 or more employees.