Pension Assets Hit N17trn As 10.03m Workers Join Scheme

The nation’s pension assets rose significantly to N17.01trillion as at the end of July 2023 even as 10.03million workers from both public and private sectors have, so far, joined the new pension scheme, LEADERSHIP can now reveal.

The fund rose by N307.12billion from N16.76 trillion in June, 2023 while the number of Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) subscribers climbed from 10.01million as at June, 2023, rising by 16,265 subscribers within one month.

The National Pension Commission(PenCom) in its unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended July 31, 2023, posted on its website yesterday, disclosed that N11.03 trillion of the pension fund assets, were invested in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities.

Further analysis of the N11.03trillion showed that Federal Government bonds gulped N10.57 trillion, N198.81 billion invested in treasury bills, N10.98billion on agency bonds even as Sukuk bonds attracted N154.75 billion and green bonds drew N92.37 billion from the fund.

Investment income, according to LEADERSHIP investigation, was instrumental to the continuous growth in pension fund, despite the fact that some governments at majorly, State level are not paying the monthly pension contributions of their workers as and when due.

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Similarly, the huge increase, according to findings, was attributed to new pension contributions received, interest from fixed income securities and net realised on equities and mutual fund investment.

Earlier, director general, National Pension Commission(PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, had said, the growth in the pension fund assets under the new pension scheme, is an indication of prudent and sincere management of the pension fund by the pension operators and the regulator.

According to her, “the maintenance of a consistent growth trajectory continues to justify the Commission’s overriding investment philosophy of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.”

The executive secretary/CEO, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Mr. Oguche Aguda, while applauding the contributions of pension fund operators toward growing the assets, assured pension contributors that their funds are in safe hands, attesting to the fact that, there has been no reported mismanagement of pension fund under the new scheme known as Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS), a development, he said, was due to prudent management of the assets by operators and strict enforcement of pension regulations by PenCom.