Assessment of satisfaction with contributory pension scheme among retired staff of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria

The new contributory pension scheme (CPS) was introduced by the Pension Reform Act, 2004 reviewed in 2014.The reform became necessary in order alleviate the constraints of Defined Pension Scheme in Nigeria. Evidently the old pension scheme became operationally unsustainable due to deficit funding, weak administrative structure, frequent increase in salary etc. To this end the new contributory pension scheme was introduced in 2004 making it mandatory for both employees and employers to contribute a certain percentage into retirement savings account of individual prospective retiree. This is with a view to build in confidence among retirees of the safety and immediate payment of their benefit. The study intends to assess the satisfaction of contributory pension scheme among retired staff of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Federal Polytechnic Bauchi. The data for the study were generated from primary and secondary sources. The instruments of the primary data collection used were questionnaire and interview, while secondary sources made use of reports, books, magazines, gazettes, journals, research theses and dissertations and the internet. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Questionnaires were distributed on a sample of 107 respondents selected from the population of the study through simple random sampling techniques to test the hypotheses. Chi square analysis tests result revealed that, compliance with the contributory pension scheme significantly improved prompt payment of lump sum benefits and implementation of CPS has significantly improved easy and timely access to pension benefits in RSA by retirees in ATBU and FPTB. However, it was recommended among other things that, PENCOM should ensure the achievement of a competitive return on investment through strong policies that will bring good investment and sustained output growth required to guarantee higher RSA growth and pension payment of retirees to improve the living standard of retirees. PENCOM should ensure close supervision, monitoring and evaluation of the performance of PFA’s in order to achieve efficiency in pension system. This will ensure transparency and continue promptness in payments, which are major setback of the old scheme.