Pension funds projected to reach N6trn in 2014

Senator Aloysius Akpan Etok, Chairman Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service who doubles as the Chairman, National Assembly Joint Committee on Pensions gave the projections over the weekend in Lagos at the opening ceremony of the South-West Zonal Office of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
He said in the next one year, pension assets currently standing at N3.5 trillion should peak at N6 trillion.
Senator Etok who also represented the Senate President, Senator David Mark also revealed that the Senate will not take it lightly if any state governor who has refused to adopt the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) is allowed to access the
funds for whatever purpsose.
According to him, if any state wants to benefit from the pension funds, such a state must first enrol its workers into the contributory pension scheme as defined in the 2004 Pension Reform Act.
He said it is wrong for Pencom or any other body to allow non-compliant state governors access pension contributions for investments in their states adding that for any state that wants to access pension funds in the future for development purposes must first sign-onto the scheme.
Earlier in her welcome address, Acting Director General, National Pension Commission, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu assured that the contributory pension has been very successful since implementation.
She said the scheme has witnessed the consistent payment of retirement benefits to all employees who retired under the scheme since 2007 without the characteristics bottlenecks experienced
in the past.
She also noted that the scheme has so far generated a large pool of investible funds of over N3.50 trillion that have been invested in various financial instruments.
Anohu-Amazu also indicated that so far, 5.6 million contributors have been registered into the CPS since inception.
She also noted that the process to amend the 2004 Pension Reform Act is at the final stages of completion.
As part of efforts to ensure quality customer experience by pensioners, she stated that the Commission had recently organised an interactive workshop in order to acquaint judges of the Superior Courts with the basic understanding of the CPS to enable them adjudicate on pension matters effectively.
She also indicated that the Commission has established a Call Centre which would be opened to the public in October in order to enhance its delivery through an efficient resolution process.