Pension Funds Safe From Government Interference - Wale Edun

On Thursday, the federal government denied a media report that it plans to borrow money from the N20 trillion pension fund to finance infrastructure improvements.

Mr. Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, made this known in a statement in Abuja where he reported that the federal government would comply with the established rules and regulations governing the pension fund.

According to reports, the minister told journalists that the government would present a plan to use local funds, including the fund, to finance infrastructure development on Tuesday after the Federal Executive Council met for two days at the Presidential Villa.

However, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, Edun pointed out that the pension industry, like other financial sectors, is strictly regulated by particular legal frameworks.

He emphasised that the government was dedicated to protecting workers' pensions and stated that the federal government had no intention of going beyond these legal limits.

 "It has come to my notice that stories are making the round that the Federal Government plans to access workers' hard-earned savings and pension contributions illegally. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

APPLY HERE

"The pension industry, like most the financial industries, is highly regulated. There are rules. There are limitations about what pension money can be invested in and what it cannot be invested in.

"The Federal Government has no intention whatsoever to go beyond those limitations and go outside those bounds which are there to safeguard workers' pensions.

"What was announced to the Federal Executive Council was that there was an ongoing initiative drawing in all the major stakeholders in the long-term saving industry, those that handle funds that are available over a long period, to see how within the regulations and the laws; these funds could be used maximally to drive investment in key growth areas," Edun clarified.

Edun also stated clearly that the government had no plans to make pension fund investments less secure or to raise the associated risk.

Yesterday, on Thursday, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria asked the Federal Government to avoid tampering with the pension fund.

Joe Ajaero, the president of the NLC, and Tommy Okon, the deputy president of the TUC, issued a joint statement on Thursday advising the government against taking a financial risk with infrastructure development by borrowing money. 

WIN N50,000 GIVEAWAY EVERY WEEK HERE!

They stated,  "Nigerian workers have entrusted their hard-earned savings for retirement security, not as a means for government projects. It is imperative to halt further plans to tap into these funds, especially given past government borrowing practices' lack of transparency and accountability."

The unions demanded assurances from the government that workers' retirement funds  "would not fall victim to further Federal Government borrowing, especially when the PENCOM Board has not been constituted as envisaged by the statutes." 

Labour expressed regret that the NLC and TUC, who represent the owners of every pension fund contribution, had not been consulted or informed of the government's intentions, despite the government's claims of extensive consultation with key pension industry stakeholders.

The Nigerian Union of Pensioners' Head of Information, Bunmi Ogunkolade, also urged the government to find a different way to finance its infrastructure development plan, pointing out that workers, not retirees, owned the pension fund. 

He said, "Simply put, we are not in support. We have told the government to go and look for where to get their money. We have appealed to them to look for where to get money to fund infrastructure.