In a recent conversation on ” Prospects for a Robust Pension Industry in Nigeria,” Mr. Tunji Andrews, Co-Founder of Awabah, a digital pension platform, believed that the pension industry had grown significantly in the last two decades.
However, he emphasized the importance of implementing pension programs in rural areas and the informal sector.
Even though the country’s pension assets have grown by N12.5 trillion in 18 years, he believes there is still a lot of work to be done at the grassroots level.
He acknowledged that the country has put in place enabling legislation to guide and monitor people’s pensions. According to him, the industry is doing its best to help the country’s economy by allowing people to invest their pensions in real estate and other investment options.
The entrepreneur advocated for concerted efforts to link pensions to financial inclusion, thereby catalyzing citizen savings. He acknowledged the concerns expressed about the need for people who save money to be able to access their funds and for them to be safe.
He said that “Awabah” developed a technology that integrates micro-pension into people’s daily lives and that the company has been able to use a debit card (spend to retire) that allows them to earn at the end of every transaction or purchase.
He also emphasized that the “Agent banking model” assists people on the street in becoming more familiar with their micro pension through ongoing engagement. “It’s about building relationships and having an agent speak to as many people as possible about the value,” he explained.
He claimed that “Awabah” created technology that integrates micro-pension into people’s daily lives and that the company has been able to use a debit card (spend to retire) that allows them to earn at the end of every transaction or purchase.
He also stressed that the “Agent banking model” helps people on the street become more acquainted with their micro pension through ongoing engagement. “It’s all about relationships,” he explained, “and having an agent speak to as many people as possible about the value.”
He agreed that the micro-pension segment still has a long way to go, with only about 100,000 Nigerians enrolled, compared to 14 million in the contributory pension scheme, CPS. He stated that work has begun and expressed optimism about the pension industry’s enormous potential for improving financial inclusion.
Source: ProShare
