The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and its corporate trustees are intensifying efforts to rope the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) into the pension scheme.
The measure is to increase coverage of the pension scheme in the informal sector and to ultimately ensure that the 8.4 million Ghanaian workers identified as non-beneficiaries of the scheme are eventually hooked onto it.
Furthermore, figures show that out of the GH¢50 billion of funds being managed by the NPRA for all the three tiers of the scheme, 81 per cent represents the mandatory Tier One and Two schemes, with only 19 per cent constituting the voluntary Tier Three scheme beneficiaries.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NPRA, Hayford Attah Krufi, made this known at the maiden Pension Fair in Accra last Monday.
The three-day event, which is on the theme: “My pension, my future”, is part of the third National Pension Awareness Week aimed at bringing together major stakeholders in the pension industry to deliberate on pension issues and how to improve coverage, particularly in the informal sector of the economy.
About 30 pension corporate trustees, including the United Pension Trustees (UPT), are exhibiting various products and services of the pension scheme at the fair.
The event was organised by the NPRA under the auspices of the Ministry of Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions.
Strategic plan
Mr Krufi said although government had put in place some social interventions, there was the need for more support for the aged.
He explained that increasing pension coverage awareness was crucial, stressing that in the “NPRA strategic plan we hope by 2026 we will be able to raise it from the current six per cent to 40 per cent.”
To ensure a holistic pension education programme, the CEO said the NPRA was collaborating with corporate trustees to deepen the understanding of the tier three pension scheme due to its lowest patronage among the three tiers of the scheme.
He said since the pension reforms in 2010, a lot had been achieved but there was the need to do more to increase coverage in the informal sector.
Mandatory schemes
The Board Chairman of the NPRA, Paul Simon Koranteng, said “when people are signed onto the pensions, it is our responsibility to ensure that their contributions are safe by putting in place effective regulatory measures.”
“The Board has approved the use of a risk supervision system to provide a structured approach focussing on identifying potential risk faced by the pension funds and putting financial regulatory measures in place to mitigate those risks in all the three tier schemes”, he stated.
Life after pension
The Director of Finance and Administration of the Ministry of Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions, Hamidu Adakurugu, indicated that pension began the very day one was employed and it was even advisable that before employment, people should start thinking about retirement and earning pensions.
“Pension will guarantee you income to maintain a standard of living during retirement so without pension, life after retirement would be difficult”, he further stressed.
NPRA
The NPRA is a statutory institution established in 2010 by the National Pensions Act 766 of 2008. It is mandated to regulate and monitor the operations of the three-tier pension schemes to ensure effective administration of pensions in the country.