At least 20 companies have been forced to pay approximately N211.5 million in accumulated interest charges on unremitted pensions of their employees in the second quarter of 2022.
According to The Nation, this is a 28.4% decrease from the N295.5 million in similar charges paid by employers in the first quarter of 2022.
However, in Q2’22, the National Pension Commission, recommended seven defaulting employers for appropriate legal action, up from six in Q1’22.
It will be recalled that the Pension Reform Act 2014 recommends that employers are mandated to remit 10 per cent of monthly salary as pension for their employees. However, many employees are in default in implementing this law.
In the Q2”22 report released by PenCom, a total of N517.7 million was paid by the defaulting employers as the principal sum outstanding as of Q2’22.
This represents an increase of 314.4 per cent from N124.9 million paid as the principal sum by defaulting employers in Q1’22.
The report noted: “In Q2’22, following the issuance of demand notices to defaulting employers whose pension liabilities were established by the Recovery Agents, the sum of N721.1 million, where N517.7 million representing principal contribution and N211.5 million representing penalty was recovered from 20 defaulting employers during the quarter under review. Meanwhile, 7 defaulting employers have been recommended for appropriate legal action, after all administrative steps taken to make them comply failed.
“From the commencement of the recovery exercise in June 2012 to 30 June 2022, a total of N22.1 billion comprising N11.4 billion of principal contributions and N10.7 billion penalties was recovered from defaulting employers.”
