Customs worry over personnels’ ignorance on saving culture

The Nigeria Custom Service, on Wednesday advised its personnel to develop savings habits, ahead of their retirement.

The advice was given by Mohammad Ahmad, Assistant Comptroller of Customs in charge of Zone B, at the opening of a three-day interractive session with personnel from the zone, held in Kaduna.

“One of the major challenges facing the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme in the service is ignorance and negligence.

“Majority of the officers, irrespective of rank, remain ignorant about how the scheme works. However, it is worthy of note that this session will address these grey areas.”

He said that the session was organised to educate the personnel on the Contributory Pension Scheme, including their rights, duties and obligations under it.

Ahmad added that it was also to “provide understanding of participants on how to access, analyse, interpret and manage retirement savings.

“To deepen their knowledge on pension contribution, remittance and terminal benefits, and identify ways to take personal responsibility of getting all their retirement benefits.”

The comptroller urged the participants, drawn from Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Jigawa, Kogi and Zamfara commands, to utilise the opportunity to prepare more effectively and efficiently for retirement.

Earlier, the Customs desk officer on pension, Edema Herbert said the participants would receive briefings from Pension Fund Administrators and officials of the National Pension Commission.

He said that the aim was to imbue the personnel with knowledge on procedures and processes of accessing their retirement benefits to deepen participation and planning.