The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said that the highest paid official of the commission earns less than N1million a month, an official has said.
The Head, Corporate Communications of PenCom, Mr. Abdulqadir Dahiru, made the statement available to newsmen on Saturday in Abuja.
He said, ”it was illogical and improbable that the least paid staffer receives a monthly salary of 3 million.”
Dahiru said that it was earlier alleged that the least paid PenCom employee earns a salary of N3 million per month.
”This has fueled all sorts of false allegations and unfair insinuations.
“ We understand that there is an element of mischief and possible blackmail on the commission’s compensation package.
“ From our understanding, it appears someone calculated all staff costs, including training, staff exit benefit scheme and employer’s pension contribution.
”He divided the total by the number of the commission’s employees and concluded that the least paid employee is on a monthly salary of ₦3 million.
“ There is a clear difference between staff cost and staff salaries,” he said.
Dahiru said that there was false and misleading information on the compensation package of the commission being circulated in traditional and social media.
He that said from the inception of the commission in 2004, the Federal Government mandated its board to adopt an employee compensation policy.
Dahiru stated that the policy favorably compared to comparative government bodies in the financial services sector,
He said that they include Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“ Section 25(2)(b) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 also empowers the board of the commission to fix the remuneration, allowances and benefits of the employees.
“ We made all these facts known in a recent submission to the House of Representatives Committee on Finance over the compensation package of the commission.
“ We also stated that the last compensation package review was done in 2017 with the approval of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
“ No review has been done in the last five years and this has affected the ability of the commission to attract, hire and retain staff with competitive skills,” he said.
Dahiru urged the public to ”ignore the false and mischievous information on the staff compensation package.
”The commission has nothing to hide and will continue to run a transparent and accountable system.”
