Pension Funds Soar to N5.4trillion As Contributor Base Swells

The Director-General of the National Pension Commission,PenCom, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu has stated that Nigeria’s pension funds now stand at about N5.4 trillion with approximately seven million contributors.

The Pencom Boss, who spoke Anohu-Amazu said this while speaking on the Role of Regulators in Deepening Capital Market at the 2016 Business Day Capital Market Conference in Abuja added that the Nigeria had the capacity to generate more and her Commission is already trying to do this through micro pension.

The theme of the conference was,“ Deepening Nigeria’s Capital Market through Maximum Utilisation of Pension Funds.’’

The PenCom DG who added that pension fund was one of the single largest institutional investments in Nigeriaoperes ently however operators of the fund to derive ways of developing products that they invested in the country.
She said that the challenges faced on investments of pension funds were arise from lack of creativity of the operators.

“The PFAs are constrained; they are unable to develop the products they invest which is why we have a preponderance of the pension funds in federal government securities, there are no alternatives
“Part of the thing I want to throw out to operators in this room is to work towards developing alternatives and new products,’’ she said.

The Director-General said the regulators were doing their bit at ensuring that the PFAs were highly regulated.

She said several regulations had been done and what was left was to ensure the official issuance of those regulatory actions in the sector.

“Our eyes are on two things; protecting the funds and making sure that its primary mandate as required by law, which is paying retirement benefit as and when due, is not tampered with.”

“That mandate also extends to making sure that the value is not eroded, and it will be our joy that various institutions are deepened by the pension fund and the capital market is just one of those institution,” she added.