THE PUBLIC SPHERE with Chido Nwakanma
Firms and individuals seeking to do business with Ministries Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government must scale a high barrier. The Government requires that they secure a “certificate of compliance” from no fewer than seven government agencies. Without those certificates, they cannot offer services.
The mandatories are CAC certificate of business registration, registration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service for VAT, withholding tax and corporate tax and registration and payments with the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund. The firm or consultant should also have three years’ tax clearance certificate, PENCOM registration certifying a minimum of three staff and pension payment for those minimum three staff for at least three years at a minimum of N180, 000 per head.
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Federal Secretariat, Abuja
As of August 31, 2020, the pension assets under the management of PFAs were worth N11.35 trillion.
Governors have declared interest to borrow from the fund, but the Pension Reform Act, 2014 (PRA, 2014) prohibits such borrowing.
Section 89, subsection 1, paragraph C of the PRA, 2014, provides that a PFA shall not “apply any pension fund assets under its management by way of loans and credits or as collateral for any loan taken by a holder of retirement savings account or any person whatsoever.”
Similarly, section 2, subsection 6 of the 2019 Regulation on Investment of Pension Fund Assets issued by PenCom provides that “A PFA shall not engage in borrowing or lending of pension fund assets.”