By Rukayat Adeyemi

Association of Pension Desk Practitioners of
Nigeria (ASSOPEP) on Tuesday denied an allegation by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) that it was parading itself as a pension consultant.
Mr Nelson Bassey, Head of Administration, ASSOPE, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos.
He said that the association had never claimed to be an affiliate or representative of PENCOM, Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) or Pension Fund Custodian (PFC) at any time.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PenCom had on Friday dissociated itself from the activities of ASSOPEP on pension issues.
The commission, in a statement signed by its Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Abdulqadir Dahiru, warned the public to be mindful of the activities of the association.
Bassey said: “Our attention has been drawn to a disclaimer by PenCom published on Friday, April 7.
“We, hereby, wish to state categorically that we have never collected money from anyone with a promise to assist him or
her to recover their fund in the pension system,’ he said.
According to him, the association is rather engaged in the training and retraining of pension desk practitioners and other employees to have adequate knowledge of pension, retirement planning and entrepreneurship.
Bassey said that the association in the course of its training, listened to challenges contributors were face with, which include unremitted contribution by employers to PFAs.
He stated that some contributors also complained of their inability to access their pension after retirement, due to issues of documentation and thus, the association advised accordingly.
“We, also at every point in time, during our training interactions reiterate that there is no alternative to the PRA 2004 and 2014 as amended.
“We have also noted that most members of the public, especially the informal sector, lack adequate knowledge of pension and retirement planning.
“Our association has encouraged them to enrol in the contributory pension scheme through our regular advocacy.
“ASSOPEP has never claimed to be consulting with or for any PFA and PenCom.
“Our association’s activities and public advocacy has received favourable media publicity such as ASSOPEP Pension Conference held few years ago.
“ASSOPEP past conferences was attended by state’s Pension Board Directors, state’s Head of Service, Directors of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Pension Desk Practitioners and a host of others, without any adverse report on our activities,” Bassey added.
According to him, the association has not sent any letter to Pencom or any PFA, requesting for payment of any pension contributor, neither has any contributor paid them to do so.
Bassey noted that the association did not claim of resolving pension issues and assisting retirees in securing their retirement benefits.
He explained that the association’s core mandate was to upskill or train employees in pension matters and equip them with adequate pension knowledge.
He said that this would help them not to commit mistakes that would delay the payment of their pension.
“This is based on interaction with such employees and discovering that most causes of the delay in their pension payment is based on ignorance,” he said.