Opportunity of boosting investment in housing, infrastructure seen in N4trn pension fund

The positive signals coming from the successes recorded in the contributory pension fund with over N4 trillion raked in so far over a decade ago provides Nigeria the opportunity of boosting investment in housing and critical infrastructure. It is expected that about N10 billion will accrue into the account in the next five years.

The fund, according to Wilson Ideva, MD/CEO of Premium Pension Limited, will help in bridging the 17 million housing deficit and fast-tracking completion of several abandoned development projects, including roads across the country.

Ideva, in a chat with BusinessDay, lauded the achievement recorded through the implementation of Contributory Pension scheme by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) within the space of four years.

“You can see different roads being built, pension money is there; you don’t know because when we apply for bond, it is applied to your roads, you see different airports being renovated. This is what the fund does.

“If we have been able to reach a threshold of N4 trillion in the next five years, I can see us exceeding over N10 trillion in terms of asset under management within the industry.

“I can see enrolment moving from 6.2 million to over 12 million, because you know anything you are starting is always difficult. Now, everybody knows what to do and there is a reasonable confidence in the scheme now by different stakeholders,” Ideva said.

According to him, the over N4 trillion contributes about 7 or 8 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and higher than the annual budget of some smaller countries in Africa.

He explained that “the fund is being deployed in different asset classes and, as we speak, we have close to 60 percent of the fund in different government securities. A chunk of the fund is being used to transform the country, that is, talking about the Transformation Agenda of the current administration.”

Ideva, who called for full participation of all the state governments across the country, noted that participating states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) could access the funds for development of critical projects.

On the company’s expansion plan, Ideva disclosed that the company will open five new branches in 2014.

“Our reach is also unbeatable, if you ask me, we are one of the few PFAs that have offices in all the states of the federation. This year alone, we are going to open five mega branches that will have a mini structure of the head office. It is going to be branded, everything we have here will be there but it will be of a smaller size.

“We are going to open one in Minna; everything is ready; we have written to our regulator to come and inspect. Normally, when you want to open a branch, your regulator will come and inspect to be sure you meet the guidelines. We are going to open in Bauchi and Yola, we already have in these places, but we are upgrading them to have a replica of what you see here. We are going to Ibadan, Calabar, Kaduna, Kano and Rivers; we are going to do that in the second quarter of this year,” he said.

KEHINDE AKINTOLA