“It should thus be avoided immediately before it gains ground within the corridors of power. It is a kite the congress and the generality of workers will not want to see fly in this circumstance.
“Nigerian workers are worried when we remember that it was in the midst of the mess that the public sector had made of the public sector pension fund scheme that the unified pension fund scheme was established.
“The thought of using our pension fund for investment in public sector infrastructure development is highly frightening given the well-known penchant for mismanagement inherent in public sector institutions in Nigeria.
“The future of Nigerian workers cannot be guaranteed under a scheme controlled entirely by crass, profligate and often insensitive politicians famous for their careless handling of public funds.
“We find it difficult to muster any confidence from anywhere to entrust our livelihood in the hands of a group that has historically and systematically decimated our collective resources over the years pauperising us at the slightest opportunity without any conscience.
“Moreover, we want to state that the Minister in all intents has only seen a pool of funds and sees it as something that could be annexed for the usual things Nigerian politicians do with our funds. Our pension fund is managed by the PFAs under the advisory of PENCOM.
“We are therefore at a loss how the minister wants to actualise this stated objective. What will be the mechanism for accessing this fund for infrastructure development without infringing the different laws put in place to manage the fund? Is he suggesting that the fraction set aside for PFAs to invest in public infrastructure development is small and should be a larger chunk?
“Let it be noted that workers in Nigeria have become the weeping boys and girls of every government policies and actions. Whenever there is a down-turn in the economy; wicked and heartless politicians have always turned to workers in search of what they could get from our hard-earned tokens.
“They have cut-down the little perks available to workers without any resistance while refusing to give up on their comforts but have instead increased the size of the budget to service their personal needs; they are currently indebted to workers in some instances and states, up to 15 months arrears and that is not sufficient; they are not paying the now expired minimum wage as prescribed by the law; yet, they are not satisfied; they are sacking workers with reckless abandon just like the 3,000 workers in Imo State last week yet, they are not done.”
Governor Rochas Okorocha reinstated the workers after striking a deal with the NLC on a sharing formula accruing to the state from the federation account.
The NLC chief described Fashola’s proposal as another stone being prepared to be cast at the workers by politicians in their effort at furthering their emasculation.
He said: “The imperativeness of reminding our political leaders that Nigerian workers were not responsible for mismanaging the nation’s economy but the politicians becomes real given their present intentions.
“We cannot therefore be made sacrificial lambs when anything goes wrong with the economy which our politicians have so hopelessly wrecked and continued to rape without any regard.
“It is therefore immoral and careless to subject such fund which is the life-blood of workers to the itchy-fingers of politicians no matter how well intentioned.”
Advising the minister to leave the pension fund alone, the NLC said: “If our politicians could mismanage the huge accruals to our treasuries from the oil and gas sector over the years, is it the pension fund that will be left unscathed?
“In any case, since we are the owners of the fund, we insist that whatsoever benefits that purportedly will accrue to us as a result, we do not want to be part of it.
“We also insist that before anything could be done regarding our pension contributions, we should be the first to know as the custodians of the interests and desires of the workers.
“If Fashola intentionally wants to light the fire of debate on this, let him know that this is where we stand and should immediately bury the idea. We suggest that the MDAs and the government use their well known dexterity and creativity to look for funds elsewhere and take their lustful gaze away from workers’ pension funds.”
“NLC will resist any action or policy designed to turn the nation’s pension funds into one of the sources of fund available for the use of the Federal Government. We will not tolerate this seeming ‘lusting after’ the purse of the pension fund. We will not take kindly to attempts by any politician to expose our life-savings to the vicissitudes of the politics we play in Nigeria today.
“We have always remembered the greed with which successive governments have announced the degree of expansion in the size of the pension fund. When it was N2 trillion, they were watching, when they announced it was N3 trillion, the look on their faces changed; when they said it was over N4 trillion, they began to salivate and now that it has grown to about N6 trillion; it has become a frenzied and delirious attempt to annex it.
“Unfortunately, we recognise all of these in the look on the faces and body language of those in government which has also become heavily expressed and resonated in the sound-bite of Fashola’s proposal. We say a resounding no to the use of pension fund for infrastructural development.”
She said: “The major thrusts of the 2014 Act are the enhancement of the powers of the commission in its regulatory and enforcement activities, enhancement of the protection of pension fund assets, provision of greater opportunity for investment of pension funds in infrastructure and housing development, review of the sanctions regime to reflect current realities, provisions that would facilitate the participation of the informal sector and provide the framework for the adoption of the CPS by states and local government areas.
“In exercise of the commission’s regulatory responsibility, it had issued regulation on investment of pension fund assets to further guide how the pension contributions should be invested.
“The pension assets have been largely invested in Federal Government securities, equities, money market instruments and corporate debt. The Commission has been making efforts to stimulate growth in the economy by introducing new assets classes into the portfolio of the pension funds provided they are allowed by the Pension Reform Act 2014.
In this regard, Infrastructure Funds and Bonds were introduced to bridge the gap in the financing of infrastructure and housing. However, despite the availability of over N3.95 trillion for infrastructure financing, over N156 billion has been taken leaving over three trillion untapped.
PenOp’s position
Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Mr. Lounge Egherioude, believes the funds can be released to finance infrastructure, once the due process is followed.
Longe, who doubles as Managing Director, AIICO Pension Ltd, says the PFAs can invest the fund in projects that are well conceived.
According to him, investing the pension funds in infrastructure would generate better returns to pension scheme contributors, adding that nobody needs to be convinced with the minister’s proposal.
His words: “It is not a matter of conviction but a matter of taking each step of its conviction through the right process.
Yes, there is commitment around the table and a lot more energy. There is a realisation that we have nowhere to go and that our backs are against the wall. As it is now, everybody has to contribute his own part, and we, as PFAs, are ready to play our own part. But, the government and all other stakeholders need to play their own part.
“We can invest the fund in projects that are well conceived. This catalyst fund will bring counterpart funding from the international community because if you don’t invest in your country, nobody will invest in it. If you provide the anchor funding, you are likely to attract international investment.
“With the new PRA 2014, I can say that the industry is consolidated. There is more knowledge and commitment. What we need is serious government to see a completely different economic environment.
“What we said during the meeting with the minister is that infrastructure investing requires clear concept and clear contract. There is also the reconstruction and recycle phase of money that has been spent by people paying for the infrastructure.
“All of these will take time because if you are talking about the concept, we have to determine which of the projects to be selected and which we have already discussed. How will the projects be put together, who is going to implement the contract and who is going to have the concession?
“The selection has to be done right. Then we proceed to construction which takes a few years. When will the construction be delivered? This must be stated in the contract. If it is a road project, how are you going to pay the tolls to make the facility refinance itself? These are the things that we need to do. These are the bolts and nuts and the way to move forward.
Managing Director, Zenith Pension, Mrs. Nkem Oni-Egboma, said one would expect that pension fund should provide a sure gateway for the needed finance to fund infrastructural deficit but corruption, policy inconsistency and lack of appropriate investible products have hindered the deployment of pension fund to nation building.
Speaking in Lagos during a symposium organised by the Nigeria Pension Consumer on the “Security and strategic deployment of pension fund in Nigeria for nation building”, Mrs. Oni-Egboma said a suitable investable vehicles like infrastructural bonds and equity with low risk must be created for Nigeria to harness the exponential growth in pension asset and channel it to achieve laudable infrastructural and structural transformation.
She also stated the need for the right policy formulation that will provide conducive ground rules for the funds’ deployment.
Speaking specifically on how to channel Nigeria Pension Fund towards infrastructural development for nation building, she said there is need for capacity building, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) among others.
She explained that pension operators need to acquire necessary knowledge, expertise, skill and resources through the development of appropriate capacity programmes that would enable them play directly in infrastructure investment.
Her words: “There must be a contractual arrangement between a public agency and a private sector entity. Through this agreement, the skills and assets of each sector are shared in delivering a service or facility for the use of general public. The government needs to ensure that all parties are carried along to build confidence with stakeholders.”
“Floating of infrastructure bond targeted at specific public good and infrastructure with clearly defined exit route, private equity – targeted at infrastructural development like ARM Harith Infrastructure Fund for power project; appropriate government policy and stability that would create the enabling environment for the right financing from pension fund and collaboration with Nigeria Mortgage Re-financing Corporation”, she added.
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