Managing Director of ARM Pensions, Mr. Wale Odutola has said that pension assets can contribute to the development of infrastructure in the country.
Odutola said this at a recent meeting of his company with Pension Department Officers (PDO) in Abuja.
Nigeria’s Pension Commission (PenCom) in October 2014 had disclosed that the country’s pension assets had hit N4.6 trillion, comprising of domestic ordinary shares, foreign ordinary shares as well as federal and state governments’ securities.
Odutola said “The obvious one is the infrastructure and a lot has been said over the last six to 12 months about how pensions can contribute to the development of infrastructure in Nigeria.”
“Clearly, as we all know, there is a major lack when it comes to infrastructure in Nigeria and it is odd that you should have an industry aggregate so much capital and will not be able to contribute to the alleviation of that lack.
“The pension fund regulator is doing quite a lot in that area and as we know, PenCom’s primary constituency is the contributors and whatever they do, they must ensure that there is safety in the contributions.
“I believe what they (PenCom) are doing now is to ensure that the right framework is available for pension funds to make investments in infrastructure. Clearly, anything that improve infrastructure will improve the economy and make sure that more jobs are created.
“We are very much in support of the initiatives around allowing pension funds to help alleviate the infrastructure deficit within the country.”
On the recent amendments to the Pension Fund Act (PFA), Odutola said “I think when the initial Act that was promulgated in the early 2000, it was ground breaking and never have we seen an industry accumulate as much capital as the pension industry has accumulated over 10 years and so clearly, there is something that is right that is being done.
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