Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) have increased their investment in infrastructure by N17.77 billion, from N17.12 billion in September 2018 to N34.89 billion in September 2019, data obtained from National Pension Commission (PenCom) by Nairametrics.
The data also disclosed that the total assets under the Contribution Pension Scheme stood at N9.58 trillion as of the end of September.
According to the commission, in May 2015, the operators invested N568 million in infrastructure and increased it to N1.35 billion in December 2015.
It added that the PFAs invested N2.06 billion in infrastructure bond in December 2016, and gradually increased the pension funds invested in the portfolio.
According to Punch, the PFAs invested N6.86 billion in the nation’s infrastructure as of December 2017. The amount invested in infrastructure as of the end of September 2018 was N17.12 billion.
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The President, PenOp, Aderonke Adedeji, said the issue of the role of pension funds in economic development had moved into the focus of public attention, particularly with regard to Nigeria’s growing need for long-term capital.
She explained that successful mobilisation of pension fund assets for the economic growth of any nation was an essential policy objective.
She said, “For the first time, our country can now boast of a long-term funding base and the impact to date has included the funding of the government and government projects, development of the capital market, as well as increased foreign development inflows.”
While this is positive, she added, a note of caution must be raised in view of recent agitations to access the funds for infrastructure.
Backstory: Nairametrics had reported that the PFAs have recorded a profit of N1.69 trillion as return on investments made from investing workers’ pension contributions.
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Reports obtained from the National Pension Commission have disclosed that the total assets under the scheme stood at N9.32 trillion as of the end of June 2019.
The assets include the total monthly contributions collected from both public and private firms into the workers’ Retirement Savings accounts, which amounted to N5.45 trillion.
