The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says it has processed 1,469 applications for the refund of pension contributions of Military personnel and other Security Agencies during the quarter ended, 31 March, 2019.

This was contained in the Commission’s 1st quarter report, ending March, 2019.

According to the report, the sum of N83.79 million was refunded to the contributors while N34.30 million representing the contributions made by the Federal Government was returned to the Contributory Pension Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

During the period under review, the Commission approved an extension of the timeline given to the Tripartite Committee for the Winding Down of the pension contribution refunds to the Military and Security Agencies from 31 March, 2019 to 30 June, 2019.

This the Commission said, is to ensure that all refunds are effected while ensuring adequate documentation of all processes.

The pension industry however recorded a 1.87 percent growth in the scheme membership in the same quarter, the report states further- moving from 8.47 million contributors at the end of the preceding quarter to 8.63 million.

“The growth in the industry membership was driven by the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Scheme, which had an increase of 158,853 contributors representing 1.89 percent. However, membership of the Closed Pension Fund Administration(CPFA) Scheme declined by 16 members (23,316) while the Approved Existing Scheme (AES) membership remained unchanged at 40,951”.

A breakdown of the RSA registrations indicated a 0.87 percent (31,508) increase in RSA membership from the public sector during the first quarter of 2019 to stand at 3,640,858, which represented 42.49 percent of the total RSA.

In addition, private sector membership increased by 2.65 percent (127,345) in the quarter under review, which brought total registrations from this sector to 4,928,179 representing 57.51 percent of total RSA membership.

“This growth can be attributed to the increased level of compliance by the private sector as a result of the various steps taken by the Commission to improve compliance and coverage, as well as marketing strategies of the PFAs”.