The Oti Regional Minister, Dr Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, has advised workers to work for their pension instead of depending on children’s support in their old age.
He said the time when children were able to support their parents during their old age was gradually fading away, and parents must therefore put in place measures to take care of themselves during their old age and stop relying on their children.
Dr Makubu, who stated this at a forum on pensions organised by the NPRA in the Oti Region, said, “Pension is key in averting old-age poverty and not children.”
As part of its quest to ensure pensions for all Ghanaian workers, NPRA embarked on a sensitisation outreach in the Oti Region to encourage the informal sector workers in the area to understand and appreciate the need to join and actively participate in pension schemes.
Dr Makubu asserted that children in the current era had a huge responsibility greater than before and were heavily burdened when their parents’ responsibilities were also placed on them.
“Many children move to the urban centres soon after schooling and seek to develop their education and career. Sooner than later, they get families for themselves,” the Regional Minister observed.
He entreated the participants to take pensions seriously to enjoy retirement income security.
Dr Makubu asked employees to make sacrifices and save towards their retirement, adding that “When well prepared, a pension must be enjoyable rather than terrifying for workers and should provide the worker with hope for the future”.
He observed that pension schemes in the country have been designed to provide protection in the form of lump sums and pensions to employees when they retire to ensure their comfort and decent living during retirement.
The Regional Minister, a professional pension analyst, noted the advantages of the three-tier pension scheme and called on all workers to take advantage of it to improve their lot during retirement.
He commended the NPRA for extending the education and sensitisation activities to the region and said that it had 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 pension and also educating those already contributing to a pension to take a keen interest in their contributions so they can retire on a decent pension and also receive their benefit on time after retirement.
He noted that the essence of the programme was to get every Ghanaian worker to benefit fully from the 2010 National Pension Reforms, hence the theme for the exercise was “Pension for all to ensure retirement income security.”