PFAs Invest N172.4b in State Securities

A total of N172.4 billion was invested in state securities under the Contributory Pension Scheme in the 2014 financial period.

Figures obtained from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) showed that the total assets under the CPS stood at N4.6 trillion at the end of 2014.

The commission disclosed that the pension funds could only be invested in the bonds of state governments that were in compliance with the CPS.

At the end of the 2014 financial year, the commission noted that about 24 states had adopted the CPS, while 12 others were at various stages of implementing the scheme and one state yet to commence the process.

PenCom introduced some guidelines for the Pension Fund Administrators for the registration of state and local government employees to enable them to adopt suitable structure for the implementation of the CPS.

In the guidelines, the law gave concession to state and local governments to implement the structured approach for the registration of their employees.

These levels of government are expected to select their preferred Pension Fund Administrators and allocate some Ministries, Departments and Agencies to each, while the employees are free to register with any of the selected PFAs.