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Pension fund not idle, 60% invested in bond – PenOp

By BusinessNews Staff on November 14, 2013

Against the prevailing notion that the new pension fund being regulated by the National Pension Commission, PenCom, is lying idle, the Pension Fund Operators of Nigeria, PenOp, has decried that the fund is not in any way idle.

Addressing insurance journalists at a seminar in Lagos last week, PenOp said that the fund from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, is pensioners’ money and is very active.

Recall that the pension fund which currently stands at over N6 trillion has been generating a lot of controversy from various segment of the economy with even the Senate demanding that the fund be invested in infrastructure since it is idle.

Meanwhile, PenOp denied the notion that it is idle; stressing that over 60 per cent of the fund is invested in Federal Government bond.

According to PenOp, the government of the country should instead tell Nigerians how they have been utilizing all the money they have been borrowing.

Meanwhile, newly elected Chairman of the Association and Managing Director of Legacy Pension Managers Limited, Mr. Misbahu Yola has identified key areas of focus in the next two years.

According to Yola, the new leadership will be focusing on having its own secretariat in the next few months which would help coordinate its activities.

He said that his administration would place more emphasis on branding and communication, adding that the Association would engage and interact more with the public to ensure that proper knowledge about the industry’s operations is acquired.

He said he will work closely with the media to ensure proper dissemination of information about the sector, stressing that the essence of the media in education and enlightenment cannot be over emphasised.

The Chairman further said that his team would collaborate with PenCom in the quest to encourage savings culture among young people, and that the collaboration will also ensure that the transfer window initiative is achieved.

On the informal sector, the Chairman said that a framework has been designed by the regulator and in few months Pen Com will roll out the guidelines that will enable them to empower the sector.

He further disclosed that the PFAs have started engaging the informal sector and have started putting incentives that will attract the informal sector.

On transfer Window, the PenOp boss attributed the delay to lack of adequate equipment to handle the problem of identity, adding that the regulator is doing all it can to ensure that the problem is resolved by next year.

[Vanguard]

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