Anyone who has followed developments in the pension industry within the last seven years will attest to the postive impact of the reforms implemented by the National Pension Commission under the visionary leadership of Hajiya Aishat Dahiru-Umar as the Director-General of the Pension industry regulator.
Beyond the positive impact of the reforms implemented under her watch as PenCom DG, the level of transparency and accountability in the management of pensioners funds, the geometric progression of pension funds capital, the introduction of new initiatives are unparalleled in the history of Nigeria’s pension industry.
Dahiru-Umar was named the Acting DG of Pencom in April 2017, following the removal of Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu from office.
Dahiru-Umar piloted the affairs of the Commission in acting capacity between April 2017 and October 2020 when she was named as the substantive DG of Pencom by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The ‘iron lady,’ a name given to her as a result of her doggedness was subsequently confirmed by the Senate following series of reforms that she implemented during the three years that she acted as PenCom DG. It was during that period that she turned the once moribund government agency into a prospective organization that was determined to deliver on its mandate in line with the pension act.
Her appointment by Buhari after COVID in 2020 came with many reforms that had repositioned and redefined the operations of Pension Fund Administrators and Pension Fund Custodians in line with the vision of government for the pension industry.
Dahiru-Umar, upon assumption of office, quickly moved away from the analogue way of operation, and holistically automated the entire process and systems of the commission in line with government’s new order, prevailing situations and the best practices across the world.
The positive development had placed pensioners in a safe stead towards having, in a semaless manner, access to their legitimate earnings after a meritorious service to their father land.
With renewed vigour and ability to deliver on her mandate, Dahiru-Umar did not leave any stone unturned towards having a seamless operation among Pension Fund Administrators as well as pensioners across the country.
The visionary leader brought on board a machinery that had streamlined the activities of both PFAs and pensioners, as well as introduced multiple reforms towards resolving the usual unease that were experienced by pensioners in accessing their funds.
With the new reforms matched with transparency and accountability in the management of pensioners funds, there was a geometric progression of pension funds assets which saw a growth of N13.3tn from N6.4tn in 2017 to N19.7trn as of March 31,2024.
This represents an increase of 2,078 per cent during the seven years that Dahiru-Umar presided over the helms of affairs at the Commission.
Interestingly, it was under her watch as DG that Pencom implemented series of reforms that repositioned the pension industry to the path of growth, thereby boosting the value of Nigeria’s Pension Fund Assets.
Under her watch, the Commission brought the informal sector into the Contributory Pension Scheme and launched the Micro Pension Plan in March 2019. The MPP is a financial arrangement for pension services for self-employed persons and persons working in organisations with less than three employees.
Remarkably, since its inception, the MPP has gained considerable traction, evidenced by increasing enrolments. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, 12,559 new contributors joined the MPP, bringing the total number of Micro Pension Contributors (MPCs) to 126,941. During this period, these new MPCs collectively contributed ₦111.42m, bringing the cumulative total to ₦791.5m as of March 31, 2024.
Also, the Multi-fund structure for retirement savings accounts was implemented to align a contributor’s risk tolerance or appetite with his or her investment return expectations, based on work life cycle.
Before the implementation of the Multi-fund structure, at the commencement of the CPS, all active contributors’ funds were being invested solely in the RSA ‘active’ fund. It was Dahiru-Umar that led PenCom to conceive the multi-fund investment structure to align the age and risk profiles of contributors.
Introduced in July 2018, the multi-fund investment structure separated the RSA fund into 6 fund types (funds l to Vl). As a result, pension contributors and retirees are allowed to make specific choices regarding the investment of their pension funds.
The multi-fund structure is consistent with allowing individuals to make their own choices under the contributory pension scheme. These choices include selecting a pension fund administrator to open a retirement savings account and choosing a fund under the RSA multi-fund structure, the transfer of an RSA from one PFA to another, among others.
Additionally, Dahiru-Umar was instrumental in ensuring that the commission, each year conducted verification and enrolment exercise to obtain data and determine the accrued rights of federal government employees of the Treasury Funded MDA’s who would retire the following year.
She is also a go-getter, a wonderful leader with great intellect and transparency in her term as the DG of the Pension Commission.
She has successfully made the agency a benchmark for success and a reference point, increased return on investment, and attracted more investors to invest in pension portfolios, amongst others.
During her seven years in office, the ‘Iron Lady’ has not appeared to be perturbed by the negative media. If anything, she seemed more determined to continue to leave her mark on the pension industry.
Dahiru-Umar, gave credence to this when she revealed the many battles she faced while implementing series of reforms in the Nigerian pension industry in a book authored by her titled “Fighting for the future: Nigeria’s pension reform journey.”
In the 173 page book, she also narrated the turning point in the pension industry, the policy pillars of the industry,
the pushbacks she faced when she was acting DG of Pencom and after her confirmation, the media war she contended with, how she managed stakeholders in the pension, success stories of the industry and how she confronted the challenges faced by her administration.
Dahir-Umar explained that the mistake which reform agents must avoid is assuming that because a policy is good and the benefits are there for all to see, then everybody will embrace it and become its advocate.
According to her, in every reform, there are always gradients of reactions and attitudes among the stakeholders because some will “lose” and some will “gain”.
She recalled how some blackmailers hiding under a Civil Society Organisation attempted to blackmail her with frivolous allegations.
Dahir-Umar explained in the book that while some heads of government agencies would have panicked and succumbed to the wishes of the blackmailers, she stood her grounds and refused to be intimidated.
Rather, she said the claims by her blackmailers made her to continue to put in her best to ensure that the reforms being implemented in the pension industry under her watch was never derailed.
She wrote, “Those opposed to the reform may try to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
Despite the glaring successes of the pension reform, there has been one pushback or the other.
“There are usually insiders working with outsiders and extortion is often the ultimate goal.The outsiders are in some of the so-called anti-corruption NGOs — many of them run by one or two hustlers who are available
for hire by aggrieved parties. It is a huge racket.
“They take a document that says virtually nothing and cast it as evidence of impropriety through twisted interpretations. They cook up a petition to blackmail you into negotiating a ransom, otherwise they will threaten to hold a ‘World Press Conference’ to disparage you.
“They threaten to submit the spurious petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) or some legislative committee.
“For the blackmail to be effective, there must be a media outlet to give it oxygen. That is if the media outlet itself is not the orchestrator
of the blackmail. Some of these fraudsters masquerading as anti-corruption agents have their own media outlets, mostly online, or they go into partnership with some journalists with whom they share the ransom.
“Many times, the blackmail works. Some agency heads panic and succumb. Some are guilty and would do anything to kill the story. They fall into the hands of the blackmailers who are never satisfied because extortion is what they do for a living.”
She added, “Some public officers
may not be guilty of the allegations but fall for the bait all the same and offer financial inducements just to avoid the embarrassment of negative media.
“Some Agency heads told me how they had
been held captive by websites that specialise in blackmail and extortion. To them, they had to tag along because they were dealing
with a bull in a china shop.
“For me, I was determined never to be blackmailed.”
Her determination to grow the pension industry was instrumental in the minimum capital base of PFAs that was increased from N1bn to N5bn, despite opposition from the administrators.This was aimed at strengthening the sector.
Most recently, PenCom, under her watch, allowed access to a percentage of RSA balance towards paying for equity contribution for residential mortgage. She was also instrumental to the Transfer Window initiative at PenCom that allowed RSA holders to have a yearly window to change their PFAs in what has now encouraged healthy competition and service delivery.
Transfer Window is an opportunity for Retirement Savings Account holders to move from one Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) to another.
This window provides an avenue for clients who are not satisfied with the services of their current PFA to migrate to the PFA of their choice.
Her impact at PenCom and the pension industry has also been recognised through numerous awards which she won during her seven year reign at the Commission.
In February last year, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) inducted her into its Hall of Fame.
The association said Dahir-Umar was granted the honour in recognition of her professional service and purposeful leadership in the pension industry.
NANS also gave Dahir-Umar a merit award for her contributions to national development and support for young people and students.
In 2021, a civil society organisation, pro-democracy and anti-corruption group, Citizens Watch Advocacy Initiative (CWAI), bestowed on Dahir-Umar, the award of ‘The Most Outstanding and Distinguished Director-General of the Decade in Nigeria.’
The Group hinged its decision to honour Dahir-Umar on her bold initiatives in the turn-around of the pension industry by repositioning and rebranding of the regulatory body to meet with international best practices as well as the quantum turnaround of the pension administration in Nigeria, which has attracted rating agencies across the globe.
In May last year, she was again honoured by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria as the outstanding female employee in the country.
TUC conferred the “Outstanding Female Employee Award” on Dahir-Umar at its Dinner and Awards Night in Abuja in celebration of Workers’ Day.
The President, TUC, Comrade Festus Osifo, had stated that the DG was recognised because of her dedication and hard work to workers and retirees.
Commending her for the initiatives she has brought to the system, he said the commission is too sensitive to be entrusted into the hands of people with questionable character.
“As a stakeholder, we have watched with keen interest the activities of the commission and can say that Umar has done creditably well enough to earn a promotion.
“Prior to Mrs Dahir-Umar’s appointment, we had issues with payment of pension and pensioners dying without being paid statutorily stipulated percentage of their contribution due to them at retirement but the story has changed since Mrs Dahir-Umar became DG,’’ he added.
As Dahiru-Umar bows out of PenCom following the announcement of President Bola Tinubu of a new DG for the Commission, her achievements and legacy in the pension industry will forever be remembered by generations to come.