Pension assets grew by 8.10 percent in 7 years

Nigerian pension assets grew from 1.47 per cent in 2006 to 9.57 per cent in 2013, the Acting Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, said at the opening of the World Pension Summit Africa Special  in Abuja on Monday.

She said that the success of the contributory pension scheme had triggered an exponential growth in pension funds and size of assets under management across the globe.

She said that the shift toward contributory pensions was a collective resolve of Nigerians to invest a proportion of current earnings in order to have a more predictable and prosperous retirement.

According to her, the new pension law, recently signed by President Goodluck Jonathan, seeks to strengthen PenCom’s prudential regulatory powers.

She said that the new regulation would increase the threshold of pension contributions, most importantly facilitate the creation of additional investments in critical infrastructure.

Anohu-Amazu said that the theme of the summit: “Shaping the future’’, underscored the imperative of institutionalising a risk-based approach to the supervision and control of pension markets across Africa.

She said that the summit would set out the challenges that pension professionals and regulators around Africa must surmount in order to respond to the developmental challenges facing the continent.

Also speaking, the Co-founder and Chairman, World Pension Summit, Mr Eric Eggink, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his commitment to pension reforms in Nigeria.

Similarly, Co-Founder of the summit, Mr Harry Smorenberg, who congratulated Nigerian PenCom for its 10 years of existence, said that pension scheme in Africa had thrived in the last five years.

Smorenberg described pension as a postponed salary, adding that Africa was a young, eager and dynamic continent with strong drive for core investment in social and economic infrastructure.

NAN