National Bureau of Statistic said that only 10.93 per cent of Nigerian working population are captured in the Retirement Savings Account.
NBS in its latest report said that the retirement savings account (RSA) membership distribution data for second quarter of 2017 showed that 7,589,936 workers are registered under the pension scheme compared to 7,493,590 registered workers in the first quarter of 2017 out of a total working population of 69,470,901 recorded as at fourth quarter of 2016. This it said represents 10.93 per cent of the total working population.
According to NBS “This is not surprising given the largely informal structure of the Nigerian labour force with about 50 per cent of the current workforce engaged in subsistence agriculture and informal trading. Micro businesses for example account for over 90 per cent of total Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria”.
It said “further disaggregation of RSA membership reveals that of a total male working population of 36,363,042 only 5,391,887 or 14.83 per cent male workers are registered under the pension scheme as at June 2017 compared to 5,328,035 or 14.65 per cent registered male workers as at March end 2017. Similarly, only 2,198,049 or 6.64 per cent out of a total female working population of 33,107,859 are registered under the scheme as at June 2017 compared to 2,165,555 or 6.54 per cent registered female workers in March 2017. Accordingly, out of the 7,589,936 RSA members, 71.04 per cent were men and 28.96 per cent were women compared to 71.10 per cent men and 28.90 per cent women in March 2017. This can be compared with the gender split of the working population which has 52.3 per cent men and 47.7 per cent women”.
It also said that “RSA membership is dominated by the Private sector. The Federal level had 1,898,199 registered RSA members under the national pension scheme as at June 2017 of which 1,384,579 or 72.94 per cent were male and 513,620 or 27.06 per cent were female compared to 1,889,143 registered RSA members of which 1,378,382 or 72.96 per cent were male and 510,761 or 27.04 per cent were female in March 2017. This may indicate that there are a lot more male employees in the Federal public service than female.
“At the State including local government level, 1,537,138 State public workers are registered under the national pension scheme with 863,605 or 56.18 per cent male and 673,533 or 43.82 per cent female as at June 2017 compared to 1,525,748 registered public workers of which 858,365 or 56.26 per cent were male and 667,383 or 43.74 per cent were female in March 2017. This may indicate that the Federal Public Service is larger than that of all 36 States combined and similar to the Federal service, men dominate with respect to number of employees.
“Private firms had 4,154,599 registered RSA members under the pension scheme as at March 2017 of which 3,143,703 or 75.67 per cent were male and 1,010,896 or 24.33 per cent were female compared to 4,078,699 registered RSA members of which 3,091,288 or 75.79 per cent were male and 987,411 or 24.21 per cent were female in March 2017.
“The highest number of registered working population came from the age bracket of 30-39yrs and closely followed by the working population within the age bracket of 40-49yrs and 50-59yrs. This is expected considering ages 25- 44 account for about 55 per cent of the total working population. However, the least number of registered working population came from above 65yrs and 60-65yrs age bracket.”
