By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has said the proposed Pension Industry Infrastructure Fund is in the final stages of implementation as part of efforts to channel a portion of the industry’s over N32 trillion assets into infrastructure and the capital market.
She said: “The pension industry infrastructure fund is now in advanced stages for implementation. We already have a framework which has been deliberated upon, and we will go back and review it.”
According to her, “We also considered initiatives aimed at strengthening the industry’s participation in the capital market. The pension fund industry has probably the largest pool of passive, long-term capital in the country, so we need to be more engaged. The PFAs will return to their boards and stakeholders, and within the next one or two months we should be able to take a position on how to proceed.”
On contributors’ welfare, she said: “One of the key objectives we want to achieve is improving retirement outcomes for retirees. We continue to examine initiatives, both locally and globally, that can help us put more money in the hands of ordinary Nigerians while also improving pension literacy and awareness.”
Announcing the maiden National Pension Week, Oloworaran said: “It will hold from September 15 to 19. The initiative is designed to draw attention to the pension industry, bring stakeholders together, improve accountability and transparency, deepen pension literacy, and drive the Personal Pension Plan.”
On expanding pension coverage, she said: “Our target is to enrol one million market women under the Personal Pension Plan, but we are still far from that goal. We are engaging market women associations, the National Union of Road Transport Workers and other groups across the country. We have not reached our target yet, but it is work in progress, and we are getting there.”
