The Federal Government has yielded to the Nigeria Labour Congress’ strike threat over the non-constitution of the National Pension Commission’s governing board by appointing Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje as its chairman.
Impeccable NLC sources and industry officials confirmed Agbaje’s appointment.
Following its meeting on August 13, the NLC Central Working Committee had issued a seven-day ultimatum, demanding that the Federal Government constitute the PenCom Governing Board in line with the law. The committee also directed PenCom to provide the NLC with a comprehensive status report on pension funds within the same period.
When contacted, PenCom’s spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Buwal, stated that there was no official confirmation from the presidency regarding Agbaje’s appointment.
According to Section 19 of the Pension Reform Act 2014, PenCom is required to have a 16-member Governing Board. The Chairman, Director-General, and four full-time Commissioners are to be appointed by the President, subject to Senate confirmation. The remaining ten members represent key stakeholder groups, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, among others.
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed chairman of the pension industry regulator, Agbaje, is the Chief Executive Officer of RTC Advisory Services Ltd (formerly Resources and Trust Company Ltd). RTC Advisory Services Ltd is a strategy and business advisory firm with two main strategic business units-RTC Strategy and Advisory and RTC POLICY.
Agbaje brings with him a wealth of experience from the banking sector. He holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Lagos and earned an MBA from IESE Business School, Spain, in 1997. He also served two terms on the board of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund between 2011 and August 2019.