By Michael Kofi Kenetey
The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, has revealed that among the about 12 million workers in the country, only two million are enrolled in one pension scheme or another.
He has therefore encouraged workers, especially those in the informal sector, to enrol in a pension scheme to have something to fall back on financially during their old age. Mr. Baffour-Awuah was speaking during the commissioning of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, NPRA, Zonal Office in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital.
The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations reiterated that the pension industry is growing fast and there is the need to make it easily accessible to the citizenry. The Chief Executive Officer of the NPRA, Hayford Atta-Krufi, noted that the new facility is to help bring the services of the Authority closer to the doorstep of the citizenry.
He reiterated that the functions of the authority are to police the activities of the various pension scheme operators in the country, which is one of the reasons the authority has been established. Mr. Attah Krufi noted that the pension asset has increased to 47.3 billion cedis due to the investment.
The Board Chairman of NPRA, Paul Simon Koranteng, noted that for the past thirteen years, the authority has made tremendous progress, which has grown the asset of the pension scheme from 29 billion to 47 point three billion cedis as of December 2022. He noted that the authority is now focusing strongly on the informal sector to get them enrolled in the pension scheme since they contribute to the majority of the working class.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, mentioned that the opening of the new office in the region will not only provide easy access to the people but also help to address some of the challenges concerning pension schemes. He added that the opening of the edifice will enhance NPRA pension literacy activities in the region.
