Nigeria’s pension fund assets under the contributory pension scheme (CPS) increased significantly by over N300 billion in Q2 2021, topping N12.66 trillion at the end of June 2021.
The assets remained at N12.34 trillion at the end of March 2021, growing by N320 billion between April and June 2021.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said today at the ongoing 2021 Journalists Workshop programme in Lagos that the growth in pension fund assets under the new pension scheme is an indication of prudent and sincere management of the pension fund by the pension operators and the regulator.
In an unaudited report for March 2021, released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the total number of pension contributors also rose from 9.27 million to 9.30 million Retirement Saving Account (RSA) holders as at March 2021.
The assets stood at N12.29 trillion in January, but dropped to N12.24 trillion in February, owing to investment loss, before it picked up in March 2021 to the aforementioned amount.
Similarly, N8.51 trillion was invested in Federal Government’s securities, as bonds gulped N7.67 trillion investment; Treasury bills, N721.74 billion; Agency bond, N12.91 billion; Sukuk bonds, N85.09 billion and Green bonds N12.88 billion.
Investment income was instrumental to the continuous growth in the pension fund, although governments at the State level are not paying the monthly pension contributions of their workers as and when due.
Similarly, according to findings, the huge increase was attributed to new pension contributions received, interest from fixed income securities and net realized on equities and mutual fund investments.
Source: Leadership
