Pension Fund Assets Rise By N470bn, Hit N20.2trn

The nation’s pension fund assets rose from N19.75 trillion in April to N20.2 trillion in May 2024, rising by about N470 within one month, LEADERSHIP learnt.

Available data dated July 3, 2024 and sourced from the National Pension Commission(PenCom) by LEADERSHIP shows that, investment in FGN Securities rose from N12.39 trillion in April to N12.7 trillion in May 2024 of which FGN Government Bond amounted to N12 trillion, Treasury Bill was N370 billion; Sukuk Bonds investment was N116.6 billion and Green Bonds attracted N212.16 billion even as State Government Securities was N264.3 billion in the month under review.

Pension fund operators, however, invested N1.92 trillion in Money Market Instrument.

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

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 investments.

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At a recent seminar in Lagos, 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 contributions 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.

On her part, the director general, National Pension Commission(PenCom), 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.”