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The National Pension Commission (Pencom), the owner of the newspapers of Nigeria, Npan, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nuj and the Nigeria Guild of Editors will meet in Lagos later in the year to face the unpaid retirement contributions in pension by journalists.
The general director of Penn, Mrs. Omolala Olowraran, revealed him during a courtesy visit to the president of the association of the Nigeria (NPAN) newspapers, Mr. Kabiru Yusuf, in Abuja Tuesday.
He complained about the widespread non -compliance with the Pension Reform Act (Pra) 2014 by the media organizations in Nigeria and therefore asked for an urgent collaboration between the owners of Pencom and the newspaper to enforce compliance throughout the sector.
He said that while Penn recognized the profound value of the role played by the media in modeling the public discourse, it has been discouraging that many organizations within the media are unable to achieve a fundamental obligation towards their employees.
The general manager said that the Pra 2014 requires all employers to put pension contributions back for their employees monthly, within seven days of wage payment. However, he said that Pencom’s investigations show that many newspapers have ignored this obligation, with arrears for a total of over N720 million.
Mrs. Olowraran told Npan that Penom was not trying to penalize organizations incorrectly at this stage, but preferred a collaborative approach to achieve conformity at the sector level.
He added that Pencom involved employers in all industries and recently kept discussions with the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) to guide awareness and compliance in newspaper organizations.
While noting the low overall compliance within the sector, the DG has identified Daily Trust for honors, describing the document as an “example of a protagonist” to constantly fulfill its pension obligations since 2015.
By responding, the president of the NPAN, Kabiru Yusuf, recognized the problems of compliance with pensions in newspapers in Nigeria, but urged Penn to understand the terrible financial situation of the media sector.
The president of the NPAN said that in reality many newspapers in Nigeria were struggling to pay even the salaries of the staff, let alone give pension contributions, adding that only a few manage to remain afloat, and also among these, there is often reluctance to separate from money for legal payments such as taxes and pensions.
He welcomed the efforts of the involvement of Pencom and proposed a wider dialogue in the sector through the organization for the Nigerian press (NPO), a coalition that includes Npan, the Nigerian Guild of publishers (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (Nuj).
Yusuf suggested that Pencom participates in an enlarged meeting of the parties concerned in Lagos this year, in which the challenges of compliance and potential solutions can be faced jointly.
Mrs. Olowraran accepted the proposal, expressing the hope that such a forum would serve as a significant step towards sustainable conformity of the pension reform in the media.
“We are not focused on being punitive because the law allows us to sanction. It is not what we are looking at. I think we can work together to get all these media houses to give the necessary contributions to the financial safety of their workers,” said the DG.
The meeting marked an effort renewed by Pencom to make employers in the responsible media sector and comply with Pra 2014.
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