N3.25tn pension funds invested in govt securities

In from Ali Smart …
In order to secure pension funds and ensure stable returns, over N3.25 trillion pension funds out of a total of N5 trillion assets has been invested in federal government securities.
The sum represents 65 per cent of the almost N5 trillion pension assets currently warehoused by pension operators in Nigeria, while another 12 per cent has been invested in equities and another 15 per cent in the money market.
The Chairman of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) Alhaji Musbahu Yola, made this disclosure on Thursday when he addressed journalists at the end of the consultative forum between the National Pension Commission (PenCoM) and Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in Abuja.

Read also: Let pensioners eat sand

According to him, PenOp members have made the bulk of their investment in the FGN bonds because of the returns and safety of the investment.
He also maintained that notwithstanding the recent removal of Nigeria from the JP Morgan Index, Nigeria’s Pension Fund Operators will continue to invest in FGN bonds and treasury bills.
The removal of Nigeria from JP Morgan Index, he said, “will favour PFAs because exiting foreign investors will have to sell their assets at lower prices and it doesn’t mean that the FGN Bonds have become junk.”
PenOp members, he stated, “will continue to invest in FGN bonds and Treasury bill, where else would we put the money, Treasury bills and bonds are safer assets”.
Yola also revealed that it has been agreed between the PenCom and PenOp members that 20 million Nigerians will be captured into the pension net by 2024 from the current 6.6 million pension contributors.

You may also like: New guidelines for pre-retirement pension withdrawal out

Yola stated that “this is the best we can do under the circumstances and it points to the fact that majority of Nigerians are employed outside the formal sector.”
On the non-remittance of employees’ pension after deductions have been made, members of PenOp urged employees to blow the whistle on their employers.
Employees, the association, said, are responsible for their pensions and that if employers are not remitting them, employees should go to their PFAs to report.
“You must be in charge of your pension. The PFAs do not have the power to enforce complaints,” he said.
Yola noted that there was need to clean the existing data of 6.7 million contributors because there have been multiple registrations.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now