A micro pension plan is a pension method under contributory pension scheme that was established for self-employed persons and employees’ in an organization, where its workforce is not more than three [1]. It is a system designed to provide self-employed persons with means of securing on retirement to afford a standard of living that is reasonably consistent at old age [2]. Onanuga [3], posited that micro pension plan is referred to as an agreement for the provision of pension to the self-employed persons operating in the informal sector through the contributory pension scheme. The current pension scheme in Nigeria is tailored towards the public sector and formal private sector limiting the participation of workers in the informal sector. Bringing the informal sector into the contributory pension scheme arrangements provides opportunities for financial inclusion and economic stability [1].

Pension is one indispensable form of employees’ solid benefits which has positive impact on employees’ discipline, loyalty and willingness to remain in the service of an employer. Pension reform act 2014 ensures that employees of the public sector of the federation or private sector receive their retirement benefits, assists individual by assuring them to be saving towards their old age and establish a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for the administration and payments of retirement benefits. Thus, executive bill was recently passed by national assembly to incorporate enterprises that have at least three employees.

Pension serves as one of the solid security by International Labour Organization (ILO) convention no.102 which has worked hard on social security matters since 1919 against all arguments including freedom of the individual without burden of survival at old age.

Rousseum’s 1762 as cited in Asher [4], in social contract theory was of the opinion that there is a mutual relationship between autonomous responsibility for the good of individuals and individual commitment to common good. Pencom [5], noted that for individual, the contractual rules involve obligation to have education, to work when work is unavailable, to take care of one’s family and to raise children with the same sense of responsibility. The commission stated further that for employers, the rules include the obligation to pay a fair wage, prompt and regular payment of both pension and lump sum to retirees’, to treat workers with dignity during and after they might have disengaged from active service, to compete on fair term and to respect common assets. However, the government duty is to create adaptable institutes to manage and enforce those obligations. This plays an imperative role in structuring the existential realities of a nation citizen because of its monopolistic control over valued social resources in the society [5].

Pension management either from the formal or informal setting, private or public arrangements by which, ensures economic security and opportunity that progress over the course of history in response to changing economic and political conditions and demographic realities [6]. Meanwhile, the present pension scheme in Nigeria focus on both public and formal private sector with the exclusion of workers in the informal sector. Therefore, the rationale behind this paper is to assess the impact of micro pension plan on selected self-employed workers in Ikeja Local Government area of Lagos State.

Management of pension schemes in Nigeria has been experiencing diverse problems in the economy such as inadequate funding, poor documentation and filling, non-consideration of the aged after retirement, lack of consideration of the skilled workers in the informal sectors of the economy, problems of accountability, corruption and embezzlement of funds [7]. Others include non-implementation of informal sector pension scheme as it is in place in some of the advance economies, incompetence and in experience pension officers added to poor human relations and commitment [8]. However, there has been several reviews of pension schemes by the Nigeria government which also have problem of implementation Contributory pension scheme has tremendously covers the formal sector of both public and private organisations without considering the informal sector before the amendment of the scheme. These situations have often affected life after retirement of both employees’ in the formal and informal sectors of Nigeria economy negatively, thus, the introduction of micro pension plan. 

Since the introduction of the micro pension plan in Nigeria, the level of awareness and participation effectiveness in terms of encouraging the informal sector business owners to participate in the micro pension plan has not been adequately met. In the study of Kuma et al. [9], it was asserted that the awareness and participation in the micro pension plan is low, hence, the need to assess micro pension plan in Lagos, Nigeria to confirm its effectiveness since its inception being the commercial nerve center of the Nigeria economy.

Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess micro pension plan on self-employed workers’ in selected enterprises in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State.

 The Specific objective are to:         

• Examine the relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness 

• Examine the significant relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances

Research Questions

• What is the relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness

• Is there any significant relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated:

• There is no relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness

•  Micro pension plan does not have significant effect on self-employed workers’ remittances

Literature and Conceptual Review

The Concept of Pension: Ocheni and Akubo [10], defined pension as a ‘’benefit plan’’ where a fix sum is paid regularly to a person as a ‘’defined contribution plan’’ under which a fix sum is invested and then becomes available at old age. Casey and Taiwo [11], expressed pension as a form of social security against old age poverty. Income from pension to an individual may be supplemented by social security benefits which apply to all citizens in such country whether or not they belong to the working class.

Pension referred to as a sum set aside for retirement purposes and serves as arrangement that hopes that at retirement, retirees will not be stranded financially [12]. Akubo [13], stated that pension management is an instrument that affects employment decision in a given organisation, for it refers to as a form of income that workforce of an organisation or their beneficiaries receive after leaving the employment, become disabled or die. Pension helps employees to readjust themselves properly into the society after leaving employment and a pension system is essentially an income security programme which provides benefits to beneficiaries who may be retirees, pensioners or destitute, thus, pension reform is not a new issue in any part of the world [14,15].

The new pension reform Law is contributory in nature with the intent of ensuring that every person who had worked in either public or private sector receives his or her retirement benefits as at when due. The reform was to serve as social welfare scheme for the aged, by ensuring that workers save to cater for their livelihood during old age [3]. Ozor [16], defined pension as a lump sum payment paid to an employee upon his disengagement from active service. The payment is usually paid in monthly installments in the form of salary. Again, it is a financial package which legally specifies its organization and operation so as to provide rest of mind to workers, sustain or spur them to more productivity and ensure that a pensioner and his dependents live a decent life.

However, since most citizen in a in a particular territory over the globe might had one time been workers, would appears that social security benefit are co-terminus with the working class, it is quite different from gratuity or lump-sum.

Retirement Benefits Planning

Retirement planning is the process of determining retirement income goals and the actions and decisions necessary to achieve those goals [17]. Retirement planning includes identifying sources of income, estimating expenses, implementing a savings program and managing assets and risk. Future cash flows are estimated to determine if the retirement income goal will be achieved. Some retirement plans change, depending on whether employee is self-employed or engaged in the formal employment [18].

Advances in healthcare and improvement in quality of life has significantly increased the longevity of life span of individual citizen. In fact, according to recent estimates, the proportion of self-employed above the age of 60 will be almost equal those in formal setting for retirement [19]. This implies that those in informal setting will still have opportunity to work for their contributions into the pension plan even after the prescribed retirement age.

Importance of Micro Pension Plan

Pension is a tool used to manage employment. It can be applied to attain and retain certain levels of labour productivity [15]. The micro pension plan allows employees of organization with not more than three staff as well as self-employed individuals to participate in the contributory pension scheme. The move to expand the slope of coverage of the contributory pension scheme will potentially mean that more people will have their retirement catered for, as the informal sector of the economy accounts for about 84% of workers without pension plan [20]. 

Retirement is a process that separates an individual from a job role or as termination of a pattern of life and a transition. The causes of the detachment or separation may be due to old age, poor health, social pressure or apathy. Retirement is the point where people stop employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours. Many people chose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions do not allow the person to work anymore (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislations concerning their position. In modern times, most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in old age, which may be sponsored by employers and/or the state. In many developing and poorer societies, support for the old is still provided through the family. Today, retirement with pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies and hard ideological, social and political and cultural battles have been fought over whether this is a right age. The “standard” retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 55 and 70 years.

Pension Scheme(s) in Nigeria

In Nigeria from 1951 till date, many pension schemes have been established either through act of parliament and a decree under the military. Such pension schemes are, Nigeria Pension Scheme (NPS) of 1951, National Provident Fund (NPF) of 1961, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) of 1990, Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) established by a military decree in 1977 which was later change to Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) by a military decree in 1979, Armed Forces Pension Scheme established in 1979 by a military decree to cater for the military personnel and Police Pension Scheme (PPS) which was formed with other agencies pension scheme established by a decree in 1993 Pension Reform Act (PRA) and Contributory Pension Scheme 2014, 1958 [7,8,21,22].

Challenges Associated with CPS

The striking challenge is that the pension plan in Nigeria is approved for all organizations in the country, both public and private. In the developed economies, there is more than one type of pension scheme from which choices could be made by an organization or individual. Similarly, the major types of pension schemes in Canada are not less than three aside the private pension schemes [8]. They have differing operational guidelines and offer varying services, values and, of course, contain different challenges. Also, the availability of more pension schemes in Nigeria offers retirees more pension funds for their comfort and ability to meet their basic needs. With a massive pension scheme, pensioners may not be able to take adequate care of their families in spite of the CPS values and also cater for their dependents. This is sequel to the fact that the pension scheme may yield only marginal returns to investment in sluggish and poorly regulated system. It is the return on investment (ROI) that PFAs distribute to their contributors in CPS. This must have formed part of the reason for the apt call by the World Bank to impending old age crisis which must be taken seriously. African countries are projected to experience life expectancy with many more people that are expected to live beyond 60 years of age increasing by more than 50% every decade. The increased life expectancy will be no doubt a function of increased health care delivery but with precarious food security [23,8].

The other problem that contributors experience is the inadequate investment returns. In some cases, contributors are able to view their assets with the PFAs, only to find that the investment returns are too meager for comfort or that the asset did not make any return at all, that is, zero profit. Yet the PFAs have the statutory guidelines or template, on how to take their commission from all contributors’ assets. Some contributors have found that while their assets did not make any profit, PFAs deducted their commission from the contributors’ assets, not from the returns on investments. The implication of this mode of operation is that the commission for the PFAs is constant or guaranteed, while the return on investment for the contributors or pensioner is left to the vagaries of market forces [7].

There is also the challenge of the scanty or inadequate information that some contributors/retirees receive from their PFAs which made the new CPS strange as field officers are required for proper and adequate dissemination of what CPS entails for all employees.

The Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, in order to establish the rules, standard and regulations for the provision of retirement benefits to private and public employees, created the Contributory Pension Scheme. However, the applicability of the Scheme is limited to employees in the public sector and persons in the employment of private organizations with 5 or more employees. Although Section 2(3) of the PRA 2014 makes self- employed persons and employees in an organization with less than 3 employees entitled to participate in the Scheme, it notably subjects their participation to the provisions of "guidelines" issued by the National Pension Commission on same.

Furthermore, the PRA 2014 did not consider persons in the informal sector like one-man business. Perhaps in a bid to bridge the existing gap, which has largely accounted for the lack of pension coverage in the informal sector of the economy, the Commission developed a set of guidelines to give effect to the provision of S. 2(3) of the PRA 2014, through the mechanism of a "Micro Pension Plan". In a bid to strengthen the post-retirement financial capability of all working class Nigerians (across all sectors of the economy), the National Pension Commission launched the micro pension plan to allow employees of organizations with not more than three staff as well as self-employed individuals to participate in the contributory pension scheme. The move to expand the scope of coverage of the contributory pension scheme potentially mean more people will have their retirement catered for, as the informal sector of the economy accounts for about 88% of workers without pension [5].

Features of Micro Pension Plan

The informal sector pension guidelines make the under listed persons with legitimate sources of income eligible for participation in the Micro Pension Plan under Section 2 (3) of the PRA 2014:

• Self-employed persons that belong to a Trade, Profession or Business Association

• Self-employed persons with a business registration as a company, partnership or enterprise

• Employees operating in the "informal sector" who work with or without formal written employment contracts

• Other self-employed individuals

• Employees in organizations with 3 staff or less

The key features of micro pension plan include the following:

• Registration: Unlike the Scheme under the PRA 2014, the Micro Pension Plan appears not to be mandatory. Accordingly, an eligible person may choose to register under the Micro Pension Plan by opening a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) with its Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) of choice and providing the requisite documentation as specified by the PFA

• Contributions: In a bid to accommodate the flexibility and irregularity of income streams common to the informal sector, a Micro Pension Contributor may make contributions towards his/her pension either daily, weekly, monthly or as may be convenient. All contributions are however expected to be made in Nigerian Naira (NGN). Furthermore, contributions are made entirely by the Micro Pension Contributor as opposed to the requirements of the PRA 2014 that an employer must contribute a minimum of ten percent (10%) of the employee's monthly emoluments towards the employee's pension. In other words, an employer of a Micro Pension Contributor (where applicable) is not required to make contributions into the RSA of such contributor

• Withdrawals: Contributions under the Micro Pension Plan is to be divided and managed as two separate funds namely: Micro Pension Contingent Fund wherein 25% of the contributions will be payable for contingent withdrawals; and the Micro Pension Retirement Benefits Fund wherein 75% of the contributions will be payable for contingent withdrawals; and the Micro Pension Retirement Benefits Fund wherein 75% of the contributions will be payable as retirement benefits. Accordingly, and unlike the Scheme, under the PRA 2014, a Micro Pension Contributor will be able to make contingent withdrawals i.e. access the portion of his/her contribution available for withdrawal one month after making the initial contribution and subsequently at any time till the balance therein is exhausted. However, a Micro Pension Contributor has the option of transferring part of his/her outstanding balance on the contingent portion to his retirement benefits portion. All contingent withdrawals are subject to applicable tax laws. The retirement contributions will only be accessible upon the Contributor attaining the age of 50 (fifty) years or on health grounds in accordance with the Regulation for the Administration of Retirement and Terminal Benefits

• Conversion: Conversion may occur in two ways: i.e. from the Micro Pension Plan to the Contributory Pension Scheme under Section 2(1) of the PRA 2014; and vice versa. In this regard, the guidelines provide that a Micro Pension Contributor shall be eligible to convert to the Contributory Pension Scheme in accordance with Section 2(1) of the Pension Reform Act, 2014 if he/she secures employment in the formal sector with an organization that has three or more employees

However, a critical issue arises in this regard as the PRA 2014 limits the applicability of the contributory pension scheme to employees in an organization where there are five or more employees. Accordingly, conversion from the micro pension plan upon securing an employment in an organization that has three employees serves no useful purpose as no mandatory pension coverage exists within that bracket. 

Moreover, conversion from the micro pension plan to the contributory pension scheme, the contingent portion of the micro pension contributor's RSA (if not withdrawn) will be treated as additional voluntary contribution as no contingent withdrawal is applicable under the scheme. An RSA holder under the scheme may request for conversion to the micro pension plan upon disengagement from formal employment. On conversion, the RSA holder may withdraw up to a maximum of 25% of the balance in the RSA in line with the contingency withdrawal option available to a micro pension contributor. This is a laudable initiative against an era when workers retire from the informal sector of the economy, with nothing to fall back on, after they had lived an active life.

Challenges in the Guidelines of Micro Pension Plan

• Lack of clarity in the applicability of the Guidelines: On one hand, it appears from the definition of "informal sector" therein that the micro pension plan will be applicable to all employees who are not mandated to participate under the Scheme. However, further review of the guidelines particularly the provisions on conversion seems to suggest that the micro pension plan is not applicable to persons employed in organizations where there are more than three employees

• Non-Mandatory Nature of the Micro Pension Plan: It appears from the guidelines that the micro pension plan is not mandatory. Consequently, self-employed persons and employees in the informal sector are at liberty as to whether to register or make contributions under the micro pension plan

Theoretical Framework

The theory central to this study is life cycle theory. This is related to consumption pattern and saving decision of the individual who is involved in administering a plan. The theory believes that consumption is a function of life time wealth at one’s disposal. It states further that, defined pension can change the wealth of a pension plan participant. The life cycle theory argues that pension can affect savings rate of a pension plan participant by affecting the average wealth of the person. This is because a sustainable pension plan can grow huge financial resources for further investment earnings which can cause significant redistribution of income leading to increased wealth to pension participants. This can encourage increase or sustainable saving propensity.

Empirical Review

Several empirical studies have been carried out on pension benefits across the globe. Among the studies are: Siew-Yong [24], examined the impact of welfare on the sustainability of defined pension scheme. It puts into consideration the challenges to sustainability and distributive impartiality. It also evaluates the effectiveness of pension scheme from the aspect of structural and systematic parameters. The latter results from the fact that a sustainable pension plan lead to great financial resources for further investment earnings that could lead to a significant redistribution of income and therefore increased wealth to pension contributors. In effect, the previous can encourage increased or sustainable saving propensity [25]. Modigliani and Brumberg cited in Idowu [26], states that consumption is a function of life time wealth. This wealth (financial, real estates and expected value of future income) is determined by mode of pension plan at one disposal.

Qing, Zhen and Taichang [27], researched on the effect of pension benefits on consumption indicating that lower income groups have larger marginal propensity to consume than higher income groups with every unit of increase of retirees’ pension benefits. The researchers also suggested that life cycle theory is applicable to explain the relationship between pension and consumption which increases the scope and the depth of pension programmes, leading to a higher level of welfare and social security. Such interaction among the pension plan, domestic consumption and economic development guarantees the sustainability of social program in the long run which translates into promotion of individual welfare.

David, Hua, Era Dabla, Kamil, Mauricio and Alexander [28], explored comprehensive investigation on micro pension, encouraging savings for retirement and reducing long term physical liabilities require pension plan in many emerging market and advanced economies. The researchers stated further that the pension plan must be carefully regulated to avoid undercutting the welfare of future retirees’ or fueling old age poverty in countries with relatively high savings rate and inadequate social security system. The researchers concluded that ability of self-employed persons to save for retirements and to diversify retirement related risks will depend on the availability of a wide array of relevant financial invention. 

The review of several studies have shown that micro pension plan has a significant effect on self- employed and employees of informal sector savings towards retirement benefits in a given economy. Accordingly, their findings are able to attest that pension plan is a policy that can be used to save funds for old age purposes while in active service.

Survey research design was adopted for this study, because it gives accurate account of the characteristic of the population, such as behaviour, view, abilities and option of a particular individual situation.

 The population for the study consists of self-employed persons that operates their businesses in Ikeja Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria and also registered with small and medium enterprises development agency (SMEDAN). The entirety figures of Lagos State MSMEs listed with SMEDAN as at 2018 is 4,535 while Ikeja Local Government is 1,511 [29]. The study was carried out in Ikeja Local Government Area of the State because the Local government represents one of the highest populated self-employed persons where there are more private businesses with relatively minimum standard of living [30]. Self-employed persons from selected informal sector businesses in Ikeja Local Government Area were purposively chosen for this study to assess micro pension plan on self-employed workers’. The sample size for this study was established with the use of the Taro Yamane statistical formula. This formula relates the population size to the level of significance as illustrated below:

Taro-Yamane Formula:

Where,

• n: Sample Size

• N: Total Population

• e: Error margin (0.05)

To determine the sample size using the formula above, thus:

A sample size of 316 was selected. The sampling technique used was convenient sampling technique to distribute the questionnaire to self–employed persons in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria.

The research instrument designed by Oyebo [31], was adapted in this study. The instrument was modified to include other aspects of retirement plan in the pension sector. The research instrument was structured into two sections. The first section of the questionnaire contains general questions relating to the respondents’ bio-data information, while the second section focused on information relating to micro pension plan which serves as a subset of contributory pension scheme in Nigeria. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that alternatives were provided for the respondents to choose from and options were expected to expressed. The research instrument was structured in five Likert scale measurement of 5 represent strongly agreed (SA), 4 - agreed (A), 3- undecided (U), 2 - disagreed (D) and 1 - strongly disagreed (SD). 

The study used primary data and the questionnaires administered were used to gather primary data. Three hundred and sixteen copies of questionnaires were administered to self-employed enterprises in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State. Out of the total number of the copies of the questionnaires administered, 214 copies of the questionnaires were retrieved representing 67.7% and were used for the analysis in this study. Content validity was employed in this study to ascertain the content of the research instrument. In order to measure the micro pension plan in the pension sector, this study adapted research instrument by Oyebo [31]. The instrument was modified by the researcher to include other aspects of pension plan.

The test of reliability measures the internal consistency of the research instrument. Table 1 above, presents the Cronbach’s alpha result. The coefficients of the cronbach’s alpha of the variables; micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness is (0.755) and micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances is (0.771).        

Table 1: Results of The Cronbach Alpha Test

Source: Researcher’s computation, 2019

Table 2: Bio-Data and Tabulation of Self-Employed Workers’

Source: Researcher’s Field Survey, 2020

Thus, since each of the coefficients lies between 0.7 and 1.00, this is an indicator of consistency that the responses measure the same characteristics of the same construct. Therefore, there is consistency in the measurement scales given by responses. This implies that 75.5% and 77.1% of variance in these scores of the variables respectively is reliable. Analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Descriptive analysis includes frequencies, mean and standard deviation to represent the response rate and information on the other variables that the study considered. The correlation analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data.

Data Analyses and Interpretations

Bio - Data Information of the Respondents

Test of Hypothesis I

• HO: There is no significant relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness

Table 3 presents the correlation of micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness. The Pearson Correlation coefficient (r = 0.702, N = 214) indicates that there is a substantially positive correlation between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness. The test of the correlation is also significant since the p-value (0.030) is less than 5% (0.05) indicating the rejection of the null hypothesis. This implies that there is a significant positive relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness in Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Table 3: Result of Correlation Analysis Between Micro Pension Plan and Self-Employed Workers’ Awareness

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

Source: Researcher’s computation, 2019 using SPSS

Test of Hypothesis II

• H0: Micro pension plan does not have effect on self-employed workers’ remittances

Table 4 presents the correlation test between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances. The Pearson Correlation coefficient (r = 0.631, N = 214) indicates that there is a moderate positive correlation between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances. The test of the correlation is also significant since the p-value (0.00) is less the 5% (0.05) indicating the rejection of the null hypothesis. This implies that there is a significant positive relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances.

Table 4: Result of Correlation Analysis Between Micro Pension Plan and Self-Employed Workers’ Remittances

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

Source: Researcher’s computation using SPSS                

The main purpose of this study was to assess micro pension plan on self-employed workers’ in the informal sector in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria. The findings shown that micro pension plan has a positive effect on self-employed workers’ in Ikeja Local Government area in Lagos State. The result of hypothesis one showed that there is a positive relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ awareness in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State. However, this finding is aligned with the study of Modigliani and Brumberg cited in Idowu [26], posited that consumption is a function of life time wealth. This wealth (financial, real estates and expected value of future income) is determined by mode of pension plan information at one disposal.

Hypothesis two revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between micro pension plan and self-employed workers’ remittances in Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State. This finding collaborates with the study of David, Hua, Dabla, Kamil, Maurielo and Alexander [28]. The researchers suggested that savings for retirement and reducing long term physical liabilities require pension plan in many emerging market and advanced economies.

The attempt to extend coverage of the pension scheme to the informal sector which hosts category of workers that constitute the larger percentage of the working population in the country is laudable. However, there should be adequate machineries, taking into account, the peculiarities of the informal sector, to be in place to aid the implementation of the guidelines in order for the target persons to take advantage of the provisions of the micro pension plan.

Recommendations

The following recommendations were made:

• Operational modalities and widely dispersed nature of the self-employed workers’ in the informal sector need to be recognized in order to capture target contributors of the scheme

• It is important to mention that the operators of the programme in the pension industry should intensify more effort on sensitization of the pension plan and interactions with the expected contributors to constantly update organizations and contributors alike on the importance and benefits of the scheme

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