SPEECH: THE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, REPRESENTED BY HEAD OF THE CIVIL SERVICE, OF THE FEDERATION MRS. WINIFRED OYO-ITA

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed an honour for me to represent His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, at this very very august occasion. Therefore, with great honour, allow me to present His Excellency’s speech.

Today we mark yet another important day in the history and development of African pensions systems as we witness the third edition of the World Pension Summit Africa Special. I am therefore very pleased to welcome this august assemblage of accomplished and world class professionals on pension matters who are gathered here today in Nigeria to discuss various aspects of pension administration under the theme ‘Pension Innovations the African Perspective’.

Distinguished participant’s ladies and gentlemen, it is globally acknowledged that pension matters occupy a strategic place not only as a vital component of social security but also as a vehicle for nation building.

Accordingly, Africa has given considerable attention in the recent past to pensions and related issues largely due to the myriad of challenges encountered in the administration of pensions as well as the economic downturn in many countries on the continent.

Indeed, governments in most African countries were compelled by their peculiar socio-economic circumstances to either make parametric changes to their pension schemes or a complete paradigm shift from the Defined Benefits Scheme to the Defined Contributions Scheme.

While the former model was mainly adopted by the advanced countries, developing countries including many African countries opted for the latter model. Interestingly we are beginning to see some developed countries also gravitating towards the Contributory Pension Scheme.

In the case of Nigeria, in 2004 we established the Contributory Pension Scheme, due to its obvious advantages, including its sustainability as a system, robust framework that eliminates incentives for corruption and its ability to generate investible long term funds that drive economic development. It is noteworthy that within 12 years of its implementation, the Contributory Pension Scheme has to a large extent stabilised our pension administration system.

For instance, before the reform, Nigeria had huge pension liabilities in trillions of naira but now the Contributory Pension Scheme has generated over N5.83 trillion worth of pension assets as at 20 June 2016 which are invested in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

I believe that other African countries that have embarked on pension reforms share similar experiences with Nigeria. We have also embarked upon extending the coverage of the Contributory Pension Scheme to employees of State and Local Government in line with the provisions of the PRA 2014.

Most state governments have adopted the scheme and are at levels of implementation. Our pensions regulator, PenCom, is working assiduously to extend the net to cover the informal sector under the micro pension.

PenCom has been asked to step up its enforcement drive to ensure full compliance by public and private sector institutions in line with the enabling law.

Furthermore, part of the commitments of this administration is to ensure that within its scarce resources available to it, inherited outstanding pension liabilities of the federal government is being addressed.

Finally, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, permit me to note that Nigeria and indeed most African countries are facing many challenges in the areas of the economy and security. These challenges heighten the demands on our meagre resources and constrain our pursuit of infrastructure which is traditionally seen as the sole responsibility of government.

This summit is therefore a welcome development as it brings together experts, professionals in pensions and related fields and indeed governments to discuss and exchange ideas on strategies to attract the much needed private sector funding from both within and outside the continent, and this is to compliment the efforts of national governments.

It is also an opportunity for us as African countries to listen, learn and share our perspectives on how best to move the African economic agenda forward.

The federal government of Nigeria on its part, will work to ensure that the required channels and support, are put in place for pension funds and other institutional investors to provide the required financial intermediation in addressing Nigeria’s infrastructure gaps.

I hope other African countries and governments will follow suit. I therefore encourage delegates to actively engage and participate in these discussions so that the desired objectives can be achieved.

On this note, it is my honour to declare open the third edition of the World Pension Summit Africa special, thank you and God bless.