According to the commission, this is a good development as they issued the compliance certificate to only 1,163 employers in 2013, while 852 and 559 firms were issued the certificates in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
PenCom said it has since 2011 been publishing the list of companies issued certificates of compliance with the Pension Act in compliance with Section 16 (6) (d) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, which states that any supplier, contractor or consultant bidding or soliciting contract or business from any Federal Government MDAs must fulfill all its obligations with respect to pensions.
The commission stated it certified a total of 2,146 companies to bid for Federal Government contracts during the outgoing year 2014, after they provided evidence of compliance with provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2004.
As at August 22, 2014, the total number of firms certified by PenCom to bid for Federal Government contracts was 1,386.
Although compliance certificates are issued only to organisations seeking to bid for Federal Government contracts, PenCom said it believes that if efforts are made to ensure compliance with this provision of the law, more employers would definitely be obeying the pension law in the country.
It explained that compliance with the Pension Act, at minimum; include ensuring that all employees open Retirement Savings Accounts,RSAs, with the Pension Fund Administrator of their choice; remitting both employer and employee pension contributions to the appropriate Pension Fund Custodian not later than seven days from the date of payment of salaries.
Companies requesting for the compliance certificate, PenCom noted, are equally to provide evidence of transfer of all pension assets of any employee retirement benefit scheme prior to the commencement of the Pension Act to licensed operators, as well as evidence of valid group life insurance policy for employees.
In accordance with this requirement that all organisations wishing to bid for any contract with the Federal Government MDAs must provide evidence of implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme, PenCom added, saying it has constantly been updating the list of organisations that have been issued compliance certificates.
The commission said it has also created a space on its website where the Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) can easily search for the names of companies to determine their status on compliance with the Pension Act before such organisations can be considered for government contracts.
PenCom explained the list has to be publicised to serve as a guide to all Federal Government MDAs and for information of the general public.
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