PenCom recovers $24.8 billion in unremitted funds

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

In the third quarter of 2023, the National Pension Commission, or PenCom, was able to retrieve N24.8 billion in monies that had been withheld by employers.

The statement was delivered on Friday in Lagos by Oguche Agudah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Funds Operators’ Association of Nigeria.

At a press conference, he addressed the question, “At the beginning of 20 years of pension reform, what are the gains?”

According to Mr. Agudah, PenCom collected N23.3 billion of these money in the third quarter of 2022, compared to N2.23 billion in the same period the previous year.

In the second quarter of 2023, the pensions industry reported having N17.35 trillion in assets under management, he added.

In the second quarter, it invested N349.97 billion in infrastructure of 2023, increasing the amount spent from N333.02 billion in the equivalent quarter of 2022, stated Agudah.

He added that 2.02% of all investments made in the second quarter of 2023 were in the infrastructure sector.

According to Mr. Agudah, in the third quarter of 2023, the industry also made N1.54 trillion in equity market investments.

He clarified that this amounted to 8.88 percent of all investments, compared to N964.84 billion invested in the same quarter of 2022.

When the pension industry marks the 20th anniversary of pension changes in 2024, he said it will update its investing criteria and put more of an emphasis on micro-pensions.