FG in dilemma over N815bn pension fund

BGbola Subair, Abuja - 06.03.2008

The Federal Government is now in a dilemma over how to use the accumulated pension fund, which stood at N815billion as at 31 December, 2007.

To address the dilemma, the National Pension Commission (NPC) on Wednesday held a seminar to fashion out alternative asset classes to which the rising pension fund could be deployed.

Speaking at the seminar which was co-sponsored by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Director General of the NPC, Mr. Mohammed Kabir Ahmad, said the investment regulation stipulated that pension fund should be invested on a Stock Exchange recognised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria or a money market platform approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Disclosing that there was a dearth of investment outlets for the fast growing pension fund portfolio, Ahmad said it became imperative to identify additional quality outlets for investing the assets.

He said one of the challenges facing the pension industry was inadequate capacity of operators and all the stakeholders to develop and offer new asset classes into which huge pension fund could be channelled.