N3.5tn pension assets invested in FG bonds, treasury bills

Out of the about N5 trillion accumulated pensions assets, about 70 percent or N3.5 trillion has been invested in Federal Government bonds and treasury bills, the Chairman, Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) Mr. Misbahu Yola has said.
He disclosed this yesterday in Abuja in an interactive session with newsmen after the regular PenOp-PenCom Consultative Forum.
He also said 15 percent, about N750 billion of the assets has been invested in money market instruments, 12 percent in equities and the rest in other investments portfolio.
He said the pension assets are secured with FGN securities.
He also noted that Nigeria’s delisting on the JP Morgan index has no consequence on the pension funds invested in the FGN bonds.
“Before JP Morgan came, the business of bonds was on in Nigeria. The essence of the JP Morgan index is to give investors a guide. Exiting doesn’t stop investments in bonds. In fact, before the JP Morgan delisting notice came, a lot of foreign investors who invested in the FGN bonds were exiting the market because bonds yield in their home countries improved and the naira lost value”, he noted.
He said, unless the proposed new guidelines on investment of pension assets becomes operational, the old investment order still prevails.
The National Pension Commission had released the ‘Draft Regulation on Investment of Pension Fund Assets’ to guide the investments of pension assets on infrastructure across the country. It hasn’t come into effect.
When it becomes operational, pension assets could be invested in infrastructure and other investments.