Don’t use your wards as Pension - as NPRA takes Pension Sensitisation to Oti Region
The Oti Regional Minister, Dr. Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, has advised Ghanaians not to use their wards as a guarantee for pension. He said the time when children could support their parents during their old age is gradually fading out.
Therefore, parents must put in place measures to take care of themselves during their old age and stop relying on their children. “Pension is key in averting old-age poverty and not children,” He noted.
Dr. Makubu was speaking at a forum on pension organised by the NPRA in the Oti Region. The NPRA, as part of its quest to ensure pensions for all Ghanaian workers, embarked on a sensitisation outreach in the Oti Region to encourage the informal sector workers to understand and appreciate the need to join and actively participate in pension schemes.
He was of the view that children these days have more responsibility than before and are heavily burdened when their parents' responsibilities are also placed on them.
“Many children move to the urban centers soon after schooling and seek to develop their education and career. Sooner than later, they get families for themselves”. The Regional Minister observed.
He cautioned the participants that if they don’t plan and save for their future today, they will be left alone in the house in their old age because the family would not want to be burdened by the additional responsibility considering the current socio-economic situation in the country.
He asked employees to make sacrifices and save towards their retirement, adding that retirement must be enjoyable rather than putting fear in workers when well prepared. Dr. Makubu expressed the view that pensions should provide the worker with hope for the future.
As a professional pension analyst, the Regional Minister noted the advantages of the 3-tier pensions schemes and called on all workers, including self-employed persons, to take advantage of it to improve their lot during retirement.
He said when fully patronised, the formal sector worker can enhance his benefits after his working life while the informal sector worker can also earn income during retirement.
He commended the NPRA for extending their education and sensitisation activities to the region and remarked that it has opened the way for the people in the region to be knowledgeable on pension matters in the country.
He called on the management of the Authority to help open offices in the region as there is no visible office for any pension organisation in the region.
The Chief Executive officer of the NPRA, Mr. Hayford Attah- Krufi said the exercise was aimed at getting every Ghanaian worker to be on a pension scheme and educating those already contributing to a pension scheme to take a keen interest in their contributions so they can retire on a decent pension and receive their benefit on time after retirement.
He indicated that the aim of the programme was to get every Ghanaian worker to benefit from the 2008 National Pensions Reforms, hence the theme for the exercise “Pension for all” to ensure retirement income security.