NPRA engages stakeholders on widening pension net

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), has engaged stakeholders in the pension sector in the Northern Region to share and learn best practices that would help to widen the pension net to reach more people, especially individuals in the informal sector.

The meeting, dubbed; “Regional Pensions Learning Alliance Platform”, was on the theme; “Driving pension’s penetration in Northern Ghana through learning and information sharing; the role of pension sector actors”, and held in Tamale.

Mr Alhassan Yakubu Fuseini, Head of the NPRA Northern Zone, said individuals in the informal sector's contribution to the pension scheme was low, saying they lacked the necessary information on the importance of being contributors.

He said, “It is estimated that about 85 percent of the country’s workforce is found in the informal sector, out of which only one per cent contributes to one form of a pension scheme or the other, which the NPRA considers as paltry”.

“The Regulator desires to enhance the penetration of pensions by widening the pension net, especially among the informal sector, and this can be achieved by getting pension sector actors, including workers and employers to understand how Ghana’s pension sector works and how it can be scaled-up to reach more people”, he added.

Mr Fuseini encouraged members of the workforce in the country to take advantage of the new 3-Tier Pension Scheme and contribute to enhance their pension benefits and also increase their retirement income security.

Madam Janet Ameseya, Northern Regional Chairperson of the Public Sector Workers Union (PSWU), commended the NPRA for the meeting and said the engagement had enlightened her members on how they could plan towards their retirement.

Other participants also said they would impart the knowledge they had gained from the meeting to other members of the public, especially the informal sector workers so that they could actively contribute to pension schemes to help achieve the NRPA’s aim of a broadened pension net.

The Platform shared experiences that stimulated peer lessons among pension sector actors, which is expected to help inform improved pension practices in the Northern Region.