In October 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar as the Director General (DG) of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) after a lot of uncertainty on the status of the leadership of the Commission. Dahir-Umar and the Executive Management Team have now been in the saddle for three years and I think it is important to ask this question: how much ground have they covered in discharging their responsibilities to the Pension Industry? As it is well known about Nigeria, we are never short of reform policies. Since 1999, we have embarked on groundbreaking reforms in various aspects of the economy. The big issue all the time is how well these reforms are impacting the sectors. There is this dim view that reforms do not always succeed in Nigeria. Some reforms are launched with fanfare and expectations but before the music dies down, they are gone with the wind for reasons that have to do with lack of continuity, dynamism and commitment. The pension reform has, however, bucked the trend.
I must necessarily start by admitting that PenCom is a government agency that has gone through leadership changes over the decades and still remains strong in performing its regulatory and policy-making duties. Kudos must go to those who laid the foundation of the Commission, and we have to mention former President Olusegun Obasanjo when we discuss the success of Nigeria’s pension reform. The Commission started off on a good footing in 2004. Interestingly, Mrs Dahir-Umar served as a member of the Fola Adeola Committee that recommended the establishment of PenCom. She was the Committee Secretary. When she was appointed as DG by Buhari, I expected her to maintain and improve upon the standards. Anything less and the pension reform would unravel.
