November 2021

Pension funds can steer next level growth and development in Nigeria

In retrospect, it is widely attested that an active pension ecosystem effectively congregating players – a regulator, administrators, custodians, public and private sector employers and working-class persons across several age groups – is well established in Nigeria. The maturity of this industry relative to more advanced economies of the world like the US or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nonetheless, the pension industry globally has displayed great resilience, navigating the turbulence and whirlwinds: macroeconomic shocks, economic downturns,...

Nigeria. Pension schemes subscribers increased by 3.6% year-on-year in 2020 – PenCom

The National Pension Commission, PenCom, has disclosed that the total membership of the pension Schemes increased by 3.6% from 8.95 million from December 2019 to 9.3 million in December 2020. This is according to the Commission’s recently released 2020 Annual Report. Growth in the industry is said to have been triggered by factors such as increase in the level of compliance by the public and private sectors owing to steps taken by the commission to improve compliance and coverage, as well...

Nigeria. Pension Funds downsize investments in states by 36%

Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) are now downsizing their investments in state governments’ bonds amidst fears that the states’ financial stability and their commitment to pensions are questionable. Financial Vanguard’s findings in the data from the National Pension Commission, (PenCom) shows that the PFAs’ investments in state government securities fell by a huge 36 percent to N97.89 billion in the first half of 2021 (H1’21) from N152.93 billion in the corresponding period in 2020 (H1’20). But the PFAs’ interest in Federal Government...

October 2021

Nigeria. Will the pension industry attain full potential?

Yes, when necessary measures are put in place and the right steps taken, argues Paddy Ezeala The inflation rate is still in double digits; way above 17%. Combined with the continued nosedive of the naira, investors are their wits’ end as to how to navigate the situation. This is not the best of times globally. Most economic indices are pointing downwards in the face of a protracted global Covid-19 pandemic. Great economies are usually those that, among other things, have...

September 2021

Nigeria: Challenging Times for PFAs

The Contributory Pension Scheme administered by the PFAs has since inception, 17 years ago, recorded some achievements as well as met obstacles. In this report, Ebere Nwoji takes a look at the performance of the scheme in the face of the down turn in Nigeria's economy. The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) regime in Nigeria was established by the Pension Reform Act 2004 amended in 2014, which put the Management of pension fund in the hands of private Organisations called Pension...

Nigeria is struggling to get informal workers to save

Between a slumping economy and gnawing inflation, Nigerians are finding life tough. Temilola Balogun, who owns a clothing shop in Lagos, the commercial capital, sighs that it is hard to save anything. This is typical: most adults in Africa’s most populous country do not pay into a pension. Few will be able to retire without being supported by their children. Read also Nigerian pension fund asset rises to N12.8 trillion as RSA contributors hits 9.4 million To change this, in 2019...

Nigerian pension fund asset rises to N12.8 trillion as RSA contributors hits 9.4 million

Nigeria’s total pension asset value rose by N123.47 billion in July 2021 to close at N12.78 trillion compared to N12.66 trillion recorded in the previous month. This is contained in the pension funds industry report for the review month as released by the National Pension Commission. According to the report, the net asset value of Nigeria’s pensions fund recorded a 0.98% increase in the month of July 2021, while 22,349 RSA registrations were recorded in the same month increasing total...

August 2021

Nigeria. N12trn pension assets investment sidelines infrastructure

Federal Government’s dream of ramping up pension assets for investments into infrastructure development seems floundering as most recent report shows a stagnation in funds allocation to the sector. Meanwhile the bulk of the over N12trillion assets are going into Federal Government Bond borrowing instrument which are used for government recurrent expenditure. At the backdrop of the quest to address the huge infrastructure gap in the country, the pension policy had envisaged about 15 percent of the total pension asset would be...

July 2021

Nigeria’s pension fund hits N12.6trn – PenCom

The National Pension Commision (PenCom) said pension fund assets had risen to N12.66 trillion as at June 30, with contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) hitting the 9.38 million mark. The Director General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, said this at the 2021 Journalists Workshop held on Monday in Lagos, with the theme: Positioning the Pension Industry in the Post COVID-19 Era. Mrs Dahir-Umar, represented by Peter Aghahowa, Head, Corporate Communication, PenCom, noted that the consistent growth trajectory justified the commission’s overriding...

Nigeria’s pension penetration level low, says PenOp

Nigeria should deepened its penetration beyond 11 per cent, the President, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOP), Mr Wale Odutola, has said. Odutola spoke at the just-concluded National Assembly retreat in Lagos. He stated that there was the need to note the areas where the industry lags behind other countries, one of which is level of pension penetration. He said this became necessary because South Africa’s pension penetration is 19 per cent, Kenya 20 per cent and United Kingdom 77...