By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Federal Government has bowed to the threat of a strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress for not constituting the governing board of the National Pension Commission by appointing Mr Opeyemi Agbaje as the chairman.
The news of Agbaje’s appointment was confirmed to The Punch by impeccable NLC sources, as well as some industry officials.
At the end of its August 13th meeting, the Central Working Committee of the NLC demanded the constitution of the PenCom Governing Board in line with the law within seven working days. The NLC also asked PenCom to submit to the NLC a full status report of the funds within these same seven days.
When The Punch reached the spokesman for PenCom, Mr Ibrahim Buwal, he said there was no official confirmation from the presidency yet as to Agbaje’s appointment.
Section 19 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 provides for the establishment of a 16-member Governing Board for PenCom. The Chairman, Director-General, and four full-time Commissioners are to be appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The remaining ten members are representatives of key stakeholder institutions, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, among others.
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed chairman of the pension industry regulator, Agbaje, is the Chief Executive Officer of RTC Advisory Services Ltd (formerly Resources and Trust Company Ltd). RTC Advisory Services Ltd is a strategy and business advisory firm with two main strategic business units-RTC Strategy and Advisory and RTC POLICY.
Agbaje has experience in the banking sector. He holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Lagos and an MBA from IESE Business School, Spain in 1997. He was previously on the board of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund for two terms between 2011 and August 2019.