THE 2014 PENSION REFORM ACT AND PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA A PROGNOSTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The lack of adequate and timely budgetary provisions coupled with poor retirees’ welfare scheme informed the introduction of the new pension scheme, otherwise called the contributory pension scheme. To fortify its operations and increase its regulation, the Federal Government introduced the Pension Act of 2004, and later amended as the Pension Act of 2014. The history of pensions in Nigeria started with the 1951 Pensions Ordinance. Between that time and 2014, several types of Pension
schemes were legislated or decreed into law by successive governments. In 1979, the then Military Government passed the Pension Decree 102 for civil servants. As a result of the general outcry of the people following the maladministration of the various schemes, the Federal Government enacted the Pension Reform Act in 2014 to replace all other existing Pension Schemes. Like the amended Act, the new Pension Reform Act 2014 governs and regulates the administration of the contributory pension scheme for both the public and private sectors in Nigeria. It is against this back drop that this paper examined the 2014 Pension Reform Act and Pension Fund Administration in Nigeria. Using the social responsibility theory, the paper argued that pension administration is the social responsibility of government which it should provide for her employees. Data for the study were gathered through secondary sources. The study found that with the Pension Reform Act 2014 as amended, fraud and misappropriation of pension funds may ultimately reduce. The paper concluded that Pension Reform Act 2014, if well implemented, would unarguably serve as a leveraging platform to transforming the welfare of the Nigerian worker and other stakeholders/beneficiaries.