Contributory pension assets rise to N12.9trn — PenCom

By Asishana John

Assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose by N120bn in August, data obtained from the National Pension Commission have shown.

PenCom disclosed this in its latest unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio.

According to the report, the assets rose from N12.78tn at the end of July to N12.9tn in August.

PenCom also revealed that the total Retirement Savings Accounts rose slightly from 9,405,553 in July to 9,427,003 at the end of August.

The operators invested N8.29tn of the funds in Federal Government’s securities, while the rest was invested in other portfolios such as domestic and foreign ordinary shares, corporate debt securities, local money market and mutual funds.

A former Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mrs Folashade Onanuga, said the pension scheme was designed to address the problem of inadequate or no preparation for retirement.

She said, “However, the scheme has done much more – it has allowed incredible mobility for employees in the for retirement

“It has simplified the administrative processes, reduced drastically the fraudulent practices in pension scheme administration but is yet to fully address the issue of ensuring that retirement benefits are paid as and when due, most especially where benefits accrue to workers under the defined benefit plan.”

She said pension benefits received by many in the CPS dispensation had been considered very inadequate to give comfort in old age.

“While we would like greater participation from state governments and small, medium-sized corporates, that is not something we can boast of today,” Onanuga added.