As of the second quarter of 2023, N303.58 billion had been invested in MTN Nigeria Series I and Dangote Industries Series I, according to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs)
This was disclosed at a conference entitled “At the dawn of 20 years of pension reform, what are the gains?” by the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp). conducted in Lagos by the association.
Oguche Agudah, the Chief Executive Officer of PenOp, stated during his presentation at the forum that the investment was a component of the corporate debt instruments in the asset portfolio of the pension fund.
PenOp added that N40 billion had been invested in Flour Mills of Nigeria and N11.7 billion in Unity Capital Series 11 in the energy sector. A further N45 billion was invested in Shelter Afrique Series 1 and another N100 billion in the LFZC Special Purpose Vehicle.
It was revealed that N115 billion was spent in BUA, N34 billion in Prescott Plc, and N25 billion was put in Ardova Series 1.He mentioned that the workers’ pension contributions increased by more than N8 trillion through the Pension Fund Operators (PFOs).
He clarified that as of October 2023, the total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) were N17.64 trillion, with contributions from employees in the public and commercial sectors totaling over N9 trillion.
By the end of June 2023, Oguche stated, employee contributions made up 54% of the fund, while investment returns accounted for 46% of the total assets of the pension fund
In order to lessen the impact of inflation on the funds, he said that the workers’ contributions were carefully invested and that the returns were added to the workers’ pension savings.
The PenOp chief stated that in the second quarter, N665.13 billion had been paid as a lump sum to annuity retirees and N964.24 billion went to programmed withdrawal retirees, making a total of N1.64 trillion that was paid to 442,000 retirees. Additional details revealed that as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, the PFAs had recovered N24.8 billion from defaulting employers.
