- The Chairman, Trustfund Pension Plc, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme has blamed instability in the capital market and non-payment of salaries, for the low performance of Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs).
- She listed some of the challenges in the business environment to include the falling oil prices, negative forecast of the outcome of the general elections and the devaluation of the naira.
- Mrs. Olejeme, who spoke during the 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the firm in Abuja, pointed out that last year was stormy for the pension industry.
- Olejeme, who spoke through a director in the company, Peter Esele, said: “If one looks at the fact that Trustfund management declared the same 25Kobo dividend in 2013 and 2014, one may not appreciate how the difficulty in the environment in 2014 was.
“We should not forget that the preparations for the 2015 general elections was at all-time high in 2014, the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market also happened in the same year and non-payment of salaries even at the federal level also took place during that year.
“There was also the devaluation of the naira and we also witnessed the instability of the stock market where we invested about 30 per cent of our money. Overall, we have about 70 per cent of our resources invested in one form of money market or the other.
“Coupled with all of these, were all the negative forecasts about the outcome of the general elections. All of these were formidable factors that impacted negatively on the performances of businesses. So, for us, to be able to march what was declared in 2013 is a great achievement.
“We are also very happy that the shareholders showed massive understanding during the trying period. We are hopeful that with an improving operating environment this year, our shareholders will smile more next year.”
