By Dayo Omoogun
The National Pension Commission (PENCOM) has announced that with effect from 1st February, 2020, there will be no more Death Benefits Accounts
for the deceased under the Contributory Pension Scheme. This was contained in a paid advertisement by the Commission published in several Nigerian dailies and confirmed to Sharpedgenews.com by the Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Peter Aghahowa.
By the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014, the Death Benefit Account has been effectively overtaken by the Retirement Savings Account which is mandatory for all employees. From the above stated date therefore, access to Death Benefits, will only be through Retirement Savings Account.
“Prior to the PRA 2014, Death Benefits Accounts (DBA) have been used by legal beneficiaries to access the benefits of the deceased employees who did not open Retirement Savings Account during their lifetime. However, pursuant to the above cited statutory provisions, this practice is no longer valid.
Accordingly, the general public is hereby notified that the processing of Death Benefits Accounts for death benefits claims would be discontinued with effect from 1 February, 2020. All Pension Fund Administrators have been directed to stop the opening of Death Benefits Accounts with effect from 31 January, 2020”.