Established with a mandate to make its assets and operational account details public annually, the Nation Pension Commission (Pen- Com) has run into a dilemma in this regard as it has not posted the information in the last eight years due to a delay in the constitution of a substantive board by the Federal Government.
Findings by New Telegraph revealed that the commission, which supervises activities concerning the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), last published its account details about eight years ago in 2012.
The development is contrary to what was obtained in the past where details of the commission’s accounts and assets are regularly posted on its website. Findings by our correspondent revealed that the accounts were last made public in 2012 when Chinelo Anohu-Amazu was still in charge as the Director-General of the agency. According to details of the last report, the value of the commission’s assets increased from N3.82 billion.
lion in 2011 to N4.06 billion in 2012. The breakdown in the document signed by Anohu-Amazu as Director-General, Dr Ahmadu Adamu Mua’zu as Chairman, and Barrister Adesoji Olaoba-Efuntayo as Commissioner, Finance and Investment/ Chief Financial Officer, shows that cash and bank balances increased from N368.89 million in 2011 to N482.55 million in 2012, while other assets increased from N1.173 billion in 2011 to N1.183 billion as at the end of business on December 31, 2012.
Following in the same stead, the value of property and equipment grew from N1.28 billion in 2011 to N1.54 billion in 2012, just as the value of intangible assets also increased by over 100 per cent from N439.16 million in 2011 to N850.60 million in 2012.
For liabilities, the amount dropped from N3.43 billion to N2.589 billion with details showing payables and accruals dropping from N434.79 million to N167.42 million, while deferred capital grants also dropped from N2.99 billion to N2.42 billion.
Further details, however, show that general reserve increased from N394.21 million to N1.47 billion, while liabilities and equities also increased from N3.82 billion to N4.06 billion.
The breakdown also revealed that contingent liabilities and other obligations on behalf of the Federal Government and its employees dropped from N197.49 billion to N124.07 billion.
The balance sheet, which covered the period as of December 31, 2012, was approved by the Commission on November 18, 2014, and endorsed by the aforementioned signatories.
While the pension assets, which the commission oversees, had grown steadily over the years to over N12 trillion, the current assets and account details of the commission have been unknown to the public for eight years.
Funds from operational licenses, penalties, and other sources are part of what make up revenue for the commission. Justifying the need to shield the account from public scrutiny, Head of Corporate Communications Department, Pen- Com, Mr. Peter Aghahowa, blamed the action on delayed constitution of a board for the commission by the Federal Government.
Although he said the commission’s assets and account details were regularly audited, the information can only be made public, henceforth, as the board has finally been put in place.
In a telephone chat with our correspondent, he recalled that a board was only put in place at the commission in November last year, adding that without a board to sign the account, it would be difficult to make the details public.
He said: “The non-constitution of a board in past made it difficult to publish the details on the internet. For such a sensitive document, the board has to endorse it.”
The outcry to constitute a board for the commission in past was widespread before it was finally put in place last November with the confirmation of Oyindasola Oni (Kwara, North- Central) and Dahir-Umar (Adamawa, North- East) as Chairperson and Director- General respectively In 2015, the Federal Government dissolved the boards of all federal parastatals including that of PenCom. Since that time, board issues of PenCom were referred to Mr. President through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for approval.
Specifically, the Nigerian Employer Consultative Association (NECA) had cause to describe the non-constitution of a supervisory board for the commission as risky considering the huge pension assets it supervises.
Besides worries expressed by other stakeholders, the House of Representatives Committee on Pension had also planned to summon the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to explain reasons behind the non-constitution of a board for the commission as well as non-confirmation of the Director-General.
