President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the weekend announced the appointment of Omolola Oloworaran, a banker and corporate finance specialist as the new director general/CEO of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
She takes over from Aisha Dahir-Umar, immediate past director general whose almost seven years tenure as head of the commission’s management was nearly faceless, undermining public acceptance and belief in the nation’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), that the first two director-generals of the Commission worked so hard to build.
Aisha Dahir-Umar’s tenure was near ‘dark days’ for pension awareness and stakeholder engagement, as the face of the DG was missing in most important events that the industry held and hosted.
The opportunity to market the 20-year-old pension industry suffered setbacks in the past seven years of the former DG, even at a recent retreat organised by Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) for members of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and House Committee on Pensions held in Lagos
The federal law-markers that participated in the retreat openly expressed their displeasure with the continued absence of the DG at such big industry events, including previous retreats in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State at different times, where the sector’s legislative matters were discussed.
Yes, PenCom kept to its culture of hosting an Annual Media Retreat for some part of the seven years that Aisha Dahir-Umar was the DG, the number one pension officer/regulator did not see the need to attend in person, interact or interface with the national media group reporting pensions, even for one day.
It is therefore not impossible that journalists who covered the pension industry in the last seven years did not meet the DG one-on-one for once, or even may not recognise her when they passed her on the road.
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This was not the case when the former director generals of the Commission – Mohammed Ahamd (December 2004- Dec 2012) and Chinelo Anohu-Amazu (October 2014-April 2017) were in that position.
Their regular interface, interaction and knowledge-sharing series with stakeholders in the sector, including legislatures, labour unions, Nigerian workers, federal government and the media was the engine oil that lubricated the scheme for public acceptance despite that it was new to them and paved the way for the growth and successes achieved in the country’s pension sector today.
This culture of interface and regular engagement must therefore be sustained to keep consumers’ (contributors) confidence growing, for the stability and growth of the pension scheme.
The gap perhaps is why the industry has suffered invasions and continued clamour for a breakout by different security agencies and organs of government in the last few years.
For Omolola Oloworaran, the new director general, the ball is in your court to play your role and rebuild market confidence among contributors, retirees, workers, employers, operators, legislatures, the federal government, and the media so that critical issues of pulling out of the scheme, pension accrued rights, delayed payments of benefits, and declining confidence by contributors can be a thing of the past.
President Bola Tinubu on Saturday 13th July 2024 relieved Aisha Dahir-Umar from her job as the director-general of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) while appointing Omolola Oloworaran as the new director-general
According to a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president, media and publicity, Oloworaran’s appointment is subject to the confirmation of the senate.
He described her as a finance and banking expert with many years of experience.
“The President anticipates a goal-oriented leadership to drive efficiency and superlative performance in the National Pension Commission as the prime regulator of the Nigerian Pension Industry,” he said.
