PenCom DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar

By Ngozi Onyeakusi—The Director General of the National Pension Commission, Aisha Dahir-Umar, has denied allegations that the commission loaned N10tn to the Federal Government. The House of Representatives in October adopted a motion mandating its Committee on Pensions to recover N10tn pension funds “borrowed” by the Federal Government. Dismissing the claim during an interview over the weekend, Dahir-Umar said that PenCom was not a bank and did not warehouse or manage pension funds, adding that the Federal Government did not obtain a N10tn loan from the commission. She said, “Investments by the PFAs in the securities of the Federal Government of Nigeria are not loans as erroneously portrayed, but investments in securities, through bonds and treasury bills, as approved by the relevant government agencies, in this case, the Debt Management Office and Securities and Exchange Commission. They are traded on authorised capital markets. That is, the Nigerian Exchange Limited and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange. “Moreover, pension fund assets are not managed by PenCom. I have said repeatedly that when we say pension assets have grown to N19.6tn, that does not mean PenCom has N19.6tn locked somewhere in its office or bank accounts. Pension fund assets are managed by the licensed PFAs and held in custody by the licensed Pension Fund Custodians.