Participants of Micro Pension Scheme (MPS) under Section 2 (3) of the PRA 2014: are self-employed persons that belong to a trade, Profession, Cooperative or Business Association with at least three (3) employees who do not qualify for the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), are not below 18 years of age and with source of income to save at their convenience for retirement. Micro Pension Contributors have a unique Personal Identification Number (PIN) and must be resident in Nigeria.
In implementing this initiative, the informal sector has been segmented into three broad categories. The low income earners, the high income earners and the SMEs. Each of these categories is going to be targeted with appropriate pension products and sensitization programmes that meet their peculiarities.
However, it is evident that a robust technological platform that would support the provision of customer services is necessary to effectively and efficiently register, collect contributions, provide Retirement Savings Account support, pay benefits and provide financial advisory services to this class of workers. Coincidently, special mobile phone applications had been successfully implemented in some jurisdictions for financial transactions including provision of pension services to the self-employed and informal sector workers. The success stories of these applications drives the confidence that similar platform can be designed and implemented in Nigeria.
Micro Pension Contributions shall be made in Nigeria currency, the amount of contribution shall be dependent on the contributor’s pension aspiration and financial capacity. Contributors may make contributions daily, weekly, monthly or as may be convenient to them.
Every contribution shall be split into two comprising 40% for contingent withdrawal and 60% for retirement benefits. Contributions can withdrawn/accessed as stated below
The Micro Pension Contributor can access the contingent portion of the contribution either totally or partially, 3 months after the initial contribution has stayed in the RSA. Subsequently, withdrawals can be made once in a week from the balance of the contingent portion. Contributors may choose to convert the contingent portion of the contributions to retirement benefit portion totally or partially at the end of every year. Contingent withdrawals shall be subject to applicable tax laws in accordance with the provisions of Section 10(4) of the PRA 2014
The Micro Pension Contributors upon retirement and having attained the mandatory age of 50 years or on health grounds shall be eligible to access their retirement benefits in line with the Regulation for Administration of Retirement and Terminal benefits. This is also applicable to contributors that retired on medical grounds.