Ideva
Leave a comment and share
Chuks Udo Okonta
In spite pressure on pension industry regulator and operators to make funds available for infrastructural development, the Managing Director, Premium Pension Limited, Wilson Ideva, says Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) would never gamble with contributors funds kept in their custody.
He told Inspenonline that the about N6 trillion contributed funds are held in trust for workers, stressing that the funds are invested as against the claims that they are lying idle.
He maintained that the operators would never breach the trust reposed on them, adding that the funds which belong to individuals who are identified, will definitely be accessed when the individuals retire.
“We cannot gamble with the money, we have to be sure where the money is invested in. The least that can happen is that when people retire, if they contributed N5, they should have the N5. You cannot come to tell stories that oh, because I invested in infrastructure, instead of having N5, the contributor should have N2. Nobody would take that.
“People talk about pension assets as if it one money lying somewhere or government’s free money. That is not true. The funds are people money. If it is possible, we can ask people to line up and we share the money among them.
“These monies are identified, the owners are known. It is not one government provision that is so where. When I hear people say there is money lying idle, I just said what are they talking about. These are people’s money. What we are doing is holding the money in trust for them. And that trust must not be breached'” he said.
Ideva noted that the operator are willing to invest, stressing that the investment must be made in line with safety valves to ensure the funds did not erode.
“It is our best interest as operators to intervene, we are waiting for the blue prints, when it is out, we are going to invest, whilst making sure that the funds are also secured. We do not to put money in one government project and the next morning they change the policy and the money gone,” he added.
The Premium Pension boss, who looks emotional about the wellbeing of workers, noted that he would not be able to stand seeing retirees standing helpless in his office because of wrong investments.
“If you retire and you are fragile and come to me here with a walking stick and I cannot pay you, I would not be able to sleep,” he said.
