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By Ngozi Onyeakusi— In a bid to ensure it  continue to explore innovative  ways towards unlocking sustainable investment of the pension Assets, the Nigerian pension fund administrators under its umbrella body,  Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) said it  has sealed partnership with InfraCredit .
The  PenOp CEO, Mr Agada Oguche who made this known to SUPERNEWS  Nigeria said PenOp’s partnership with InfraCredit was aimed at accelerating domestic credit to the private sector for infrastructure Development, and deepening the domestic debt Capital Markets.
As the largest source of long-term investment capital, institutional investors like PensionFunds, he said,  had  an especially important role to play as an effective investment tool to deliver the three pillars of the #SDGs: economic, environmental and social sustainability.
He noted that though Nigeria Economy is marred by  lots of challenges such as poverty, poor infrastructure, unemployment among others, but with the geometric growth in the pension  assets to over N12trillion, he said, the sector is poised to bring succour to Nigerians through its partnership with InfraCredit .
“According to the world poverty index, 85 million Nigerians which formed 45 per cent of Africa’s largest  populous nation are poor.
With the emergence of COVID-19, concerns are growing that additional five million people will go below poverty line in the next one year. Because of this fact, the savings loan for poverty in Nigeria is low. This is an age long phenomenon that has continued to undermine the private capital formation required for job creation, industrialization and inclusive growth.  Owing to the low savings rate, Nigeria has depend on weak fiscal revenue for infrastructural development, a fact that explains the rising infrastructure deficit in Africa’s largest economy.  Nigeria’s annual infrastructure budget  is barely less than five per cent of the required $100bn per needed for Nigeria to scale up infrastructure.
In addition, the Nigeria dependency ratio is especially among the elderly who depend on the children and relatives for necessities such as food and healthcare in old age.
These are some underly issues depleting the vision cycle of poverty in Nigeria.
Against this backdrop, the Nigerian pension industry is slowly but truly changing  the narative.
Though the penetration is primarily in the formal sector, the pension assets has geometrically grown to over N12 trillion through combination of sound regulation and true professionalism  on the part of the pension operators.
We strongly believe that the success of this collaboration will advance economic development, sustainability, job creation, and higher living standards Nigeria”.