The scheduled launch of RSA Transfer System this last quarter, by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), has raised the status of its alert to yellow with the intention to attain OK signal eventually, when stakeholders do all the clearance checks required by the Commission before the roll out.
The Commission said it “is desirous to ensure that all RSA holders are able to exercise their rights of transferring their RSAs from one PFA to another, in anticipation of the formal launch of the RSA Transfer System during the last quarter of 2020.”
To be on top of the launch before this year’s curtain drops, PenCom directed the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to obtain relevant information from RSA holders (both active and retired) which should include National Identity Number (NIN).
According to PenCom statement, this would form part of the Data Recapture Exercise (DRE) introduced in August 2019 in order to obtain complete, accurate and current data of all RSA holders.
Underlining RSA holders compliance because of the significance of the data recapture, PenCom says that “the completion of the DRE is a prerequisite for processing any RSA transfer request by RSA holders who registered before 1 July, 2019.”
In order to fast-track the DRE, PenCom said it approved a proposal of the Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) for an industry Shared Service Initiative (SSI); and, PenOp has engaged agents to conduct the DRE on behalf of all PFAs.
Believing this to be the upward spiral for success of the launch, the Commission stated: “This arrangement will enhance efficiency in carrying out the exercise as it would allow an agent to capture all RSA holders in the same organisation on behalf of all PFAs. In partnership with the National Identity management commission (NIMC), the selected agents will have the ability to carry out NIN registrations seamlessly.”