The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that only three states in the country aside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have a valid group life. The Commission which disclosed this in a recent publication, listed the states as; Lagos, Kaduna and Edo, even as it advised defaulting states to obtain adequate life insurance cover for their workers.
Earlier in the year, to ensure workers have life insurance, PenCom directed employees to report any employer that fails to procure the minimum required life insurance policy on their behalf not less than three times their annual total emolument.
PenCom in a notice: ‘Re Compliance with guidelines for life insurance policy for employees and submission of insurance certificate for 2020’ stated that it is the right of all employees in the public service of the federation, FCT and states that have implemented the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as well as private sector, under Section 4(5) of the PRA 2014 to have life insurance policy taken on their behalf by their employers for an insured amount of not less than three times their annual total emolument.
The commission further implored employees to bring to its notice, where the employer fails to: “submit the evidence of compliance with life insurance policy and place the certificate in a conspicuous place within the organisation.”
PenCom noted that in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(5) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 and Section 5.5 of the guidelines for life insurance policy for employees, employers of labour covered by the PRA 2014 are required to submit copies of the insurance certificates with the schedule of benefits to the National Pension Commission.
Available data revealed that about 2.5 million civil servants in the country are missing out of the benefits of Group Life insurance cover, following the inability of 33 states to sign on to the policy, against the mandate of Pension Reforms Act (PRA) 2014.
