According to numbers provided by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme increased by N460 billion in three months to N13.88 trillion in March.
PenCom’s latest report, titled ‘Unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended 31 March 2022; Approved Existing Schemes, Closed Pension Fund Administrators, and RSA funds (Including unremitted contributions @CBN & legacy funds),’ contained this information.
The funds, which were valued at N13.42 billion on December 31, 2021, increased to N13.61 billion and N13.76 billion by the end of January and February 2022, respectively.
In March, N8.5tn of total funds were invested in Federal Government securities, which included bonds and treasury bills, according to the data.
The sum accounted for 61.24 percent of the Contributory Pension Scheme’s total assets.
Domestic and foreign ordinary shares; corporate debt securities, including corporate bonds, corporate infrastructure bonds, corporate green bonds, and supranational bonds; and corporate debt securities, including corporate bonds, corporate infrastructure bonds, corporate green bonds, and supranational bonds, were among the other investment portfolios in which the funds were invested.
The total number of workers having Retirement Savings Accounts increased marginally to 9.589 million at the end of February, up from 9.529 million at the end of December 2021, according to PenCom.
It stated that by the end of 2021, 131,376 workers who had retired from active duty will be unable to receive monthly pensions.
According to figures obtained from PenCom, the impacted workers had collected all contributions totaling N32.58 billion in their Retirement Savings Accounts after leaving the Contributory Pension scheme.
According to PenCom, the impacted retirees’ RSA balances were less than N550,000, preventing them from enrolling in the two retirement alternatives of annuity and programmed withdrawal.
According to the pension authorities, some foreign nationals returning home withdrew their savings before leaving.
According to the Pension Reform Act of 2014, any employee with a balance in their RSA of less than N550, 000 would be granted the complete amount in their RSA by the PFA and will be allowed to quit the pension scheme.
