Contributory Pension Assets Rise To N14.9trn

The total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose by N1.56tn in 2022, according to figures obtained from the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

PenCom disclosed in its latest ‘Report on pension industry portfolio for the period ended 31 December 2022’ that the funds, which ended December 31, 2022, at N13.42tn, rose to N14.99tn by the end of December 2022.

Contributors in the scheme rose slightly by 333,002 from 9,529,127 as of the end of 2021 to 9,862,129 in the corresponding period of 2022.

According to the figures, N9.64tn or 64.33 per cent of the assets was invested in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s securities, N1.66tn was invested in corporate debt securities, N1.98tn was invested in money market securities and N82.8bn in mutual funds among other investment portfolios.

In the 2022 third quarter report of the pension industry, the Director-General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, said despite the overwhelming head-winds in the global economic climate and the country’s challenging macroeconomic environment, the pension fund assets under management increased.

“This laudable performance, in the growth of the AuM, points to the fact that the pension industry will continue to deliver value and benefit to its stakeholders and the nation’s economy,” she said.

During the period under review, the director-general, said PenCom steadily pursued increased diversification of pension fund portfolios by ramping up efforts aimed at ensuring sustained investment of pension fund in alternative asset classes and structured infrastructure projects that meet the stringent requirements as enshrined in the regulation for the investment of pension fund assets.

She said PenCom’s efforts at diversifying investments of pension funds and hedging against inflation had gradually begun to yield results.

According to her, efforts were on going to ensure that the annualised average rates of return of pension funds across Retirement Savings Account and legacy funds were above headline inflation rates.

She said, “Perhaps, the most significant achievement recorded in the third quarter of 2022 was the successful issuance of guidelines on accessing RSA

“Balance towards payment of equity contribution for residential mortgage. The guidelines give effect to Section 89(2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which allows eligible RSA holders to apply a percentage of the balances in their Retirement Savings Accounts for payment of equity contribution towards residential mortgage for employees of the public, private and the informal sectors.”

Dahir-Umar noted that the achievement in the Nigerian pension industry could not have been possible without the right people, strategy, culture and governance structures that supported the delivery of consistent and sustained value for all its stakeholders.