The Head, Corporate Communications of PenCom, Mr Peter Aghahowa, explained that the commission had oversight powers over the Pension Fund Administrators, Pension Fund Custodians and Closed Pension Fund Administrators.

Aghahowa spoke in Port Harcourt during a pre-retirement verification and enrolment exercise organised by PenCom for Federal Government employees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

He pointed out that with PenCom’s supervisory and regulatory powers over the PFAs, PFCs and CPFAs, the commission always worked towards ensuring that they operated within its guidelines.

“There is no doubt about the safety of the funds. We as PenCom not only regulate them (PFAs, PFCs and CPFAs), we also ensure that they operate within the commission’s guidelines,” he stressed.

He added that the Port Harcourt centre for the verification of workers due for retirement in 2019 also covered Federal Government employees from Bayelsa State.

Earlier, the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions had said it was pressurising the executive to pay the 33 per cent arrears of pension funds to pensioners, especially to those under the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Pensions, Hassan Shekarau, told journalists that an agreement was reached since 2010 to pay the pensioners the arrears, but regretted that many of them had yet to be paid.

The lawmaker explained that it was necessary for the executive to release the 33 per cent pension arrears so that retirees, who had worked hard for their country, could enjoy life after retirement.