From N2tr liability to N4tr asset, Nigeria’s pension is booming

The National Pensions Commission (PenCom) has seen its books move from a N2 trillion deficit to N4 trillion asset in its 10 years of operations.

The acting Director-General, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, revealed this in her presentation to the National Conference Committee on Civil Society, Labour, Youths and Sports on Wednesday in Abuja.

She said that the growth and achievements recorded were made possible through the reforms that were carried out in pension administration necessitated by the gaps indentified in the scheme.

“To the credit of the system which is transparent and resilient, it is designed to cater for workers at old age when they are no longer able to work.

“This is why the asset has grown from a N2 trillion deficit to a N4 trillion asset and with its daily esteem growing.

“A lot of issues were thrown up with the creation of a totally new financial sector which was the Pension Fund Administration (PFA) and Pension Fund Custodian (PFC),” she said.

Anohu-Amazu said that the commission was doing everything possible to ensure effective management of pensioners’ funds in its custody.

Anohu-Amazu said any story that had to do with pension fund being embezzled had nothing to do with the contributory pension system because the system in place had made this impossible as the structure prevented access to the funds.