The Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, said he had concluded arrangements for the take-off of the Contributory Pension Scheme.

A statement from Head, Communication Unit, PenCom, Emeka Onuora, said the governor stated this while officially inaugurating the commission's North Central zonal office in Ilorin, Kwara State.

He said, "Kwara State government had concluded arrangements for the  take-off of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in the state, once the bill was passed into law by the state assembly."

According to the statement, the office was the second to be inaugurated among the commission's zonal offices, in the six geo-political areas of the country, following the inauguration of Calabar zonal office for the South-South zone.

Ahmed commended PenCom for opening the office, adding that the initiative would stop people from the zone from traveling to Abuja on pension matters.

The Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who noted that only Niger State had fully complied with the CPS in the North Central zone, appealed to other states in the zone to adopt the scheme in order to avail their employees of its many benefits.

She disclosed that the commission was currently exploring the possibility of allowing contributors to utilise part of their Retirement Savings Accounts balances to part-finance the acquisition of low-cost houses.

Anohu-Amazu stated, "It is our expectation that when they eventually come on stream, these facilities would be availed to states that have fully implemented the scheme."

According to the statement, PenCom embarked on the establishment of zonal offices in all the six geo-political zones of the country in a bid to decentralise its activities and bring it closer to the contributors and retirees.