FG securities get 63% of pension assets – PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that 63 percent of pension fund assets have been invested into Federal Government securities as at the end of March 2014. Similarly, the pension assets growing at 30 percent per annum have hit N4.13 trillion as at the end of April.

Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, acting director-general of PenCom, made the remark at the 8th Annual Business Law Conference organised by Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

In a paper titled ‘The contribution of pension scheme as a catalyst for economic development in Nigeria’, Anohu-Amazu, who was represented by Muhammad Sanni Muhammad, the commission’s secretary/legal adviser, said the nation’s pension industry had the capacity to contribute more meaningfully to national economy if supported by all and sundry.

According to her, the pension assets rose to N4.13 trillion by the end of April, adding that the proportion of the pension assets to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had grown from 1.4 percent in 2005 to 9.5 percent in 2013.

On the number of registered contributors, she said the number was well over 5,980,415 as at February 2014, while at present 95,840 retirees were receiving their pensions as and when due.

The PenCom boss noted that the industry had an average yearly growth of 30 percent and could grow bigger if the informal sector comes on board as being expected in the Pension Reforms law currently with the National Assembly.

Nigeria’s impressive Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has become a model for other African countries as the commission continues to get enquiries and study visitations from other countries like Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania.