ABUJA – The Managing Director of Premium Pension Ltd., Mr Wilson Ideva, on Wednesday said the dearth of skilled personnel and high operational costs were major challenges confronting the nation’s pension industry.
Ideva said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
“The cost of doing business is very high. When we started, we were supposed to have offices closer to our clients.
“There is a lot of cost implication in doing that. We don’t want a situation where our client is in Borno and start coming to Abuja to fill forms.
“So we are supposed to establish offices and structures closer to the people that we are serving, ‘’ he said.
Ideva said experienced pension fund managers were necessary for the effective management of pension funds.
“We also have the challenge of skilled labour because it is a new industry. I want a skilled labour.
“I have to pay a premium for it and this is a big challenge, ’’ he said.
Ideva said that experienced and specialised personnel were necessary in determining investment portfolio for clients’ funds.
He also identified the negative perception of some Nigerians over the new pension scheme as a challenge confronting the industry.
Ideva said the unpleasant activities associated with the old pension scheme were also negatively affecting the attitude of some Nigerians toward the new scheme.
“Before the pension reform of 2004, when you talk about pension, people were negative about it.
“People don’t believe in the new pension scheme. We have what we call transfer of negative impression in the industry.
“So we still have to explain, everywhere we go, on a daily basis. We try to explain to people that this [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]new scheme is different from the old system,’’ he said.
Ideva added that enlightening the public on the new scheme remained a daunting task.
“We try to let the people know that there is a difference between new contributory pension supervised by the National Pension Commission and the old system, ’’ he said.
Ideva said that the association of pension operators was making efforts to overcome the challenges.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
He said that the association had organised several fora to update the knowledge of the industry’s operators on pension administration.
“We ensure that adequate training is provided for key positions in the industry.
“We cover areas such as retirement benefits administration, investments, customer care and service delivery.
“We make it mandatory for every operator to send participants to such trainings, ‘’ Ideva said. (NAN)
