Nigeria’s public sector employees were the major drivers of growth in the contributory Pensions scheme over the past 2 years, a sign of the damage done to the private sector jobs market by the last coronavirus induced recession.
The total pension contributions remitted to individual retirement savings accounts (RSAs) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 stood at N208 billion. Out of this total, the public sector accounted for N107.78 billion or 51.82% while the private sector contributed N101.71 billion or 48.12%, according to the latest industry data released last week by the regulator PENCOM.
For all of 2021, public sector contributions to the scheme amounted to N491.74 billion, compared to N387.4 billion for the private sector for a total of N879 billion.
In the year 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak, public sector contributions were at the highest levels ever recorded at N536.97 billion, while private contributions stood at N371.12 billion.
Before the year 2020 however, private sector contributions were the major driver of growth for six consecutive years between 2014 – 2019.
The cumulative pension contributions from inception of the scheme in 2004 to the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 amounted to N7.58 trillion, which is an increase from N7.37 trillion as at the end of Q3 2021.
The aggregate pension contributions of the public sector were equivalent to N3.92 trillion as at the end of 2021. Similarly, the aggregate pension contributions of the private sector at full year 2021, was N3.65 trillion.
The ranking of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) by cumulative pension contributions received from inception of the CPS to the end of Q4 2021 indicated that the top 5 ranked PFAs received 65.12% of the total contributions as at the end of Q4 2021.
Similarly, the top 10 ranked PFAs accounted for 86.63% of the total contributions. In comparison, the bottom 5 and bottom 10 PFAs accounted for 3.98% and 11.98% of the total pension contributions, respectively.