BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR— Legislators at the weekend appluded Pension Fund Operations for investment pension contributions in real estate business.
This was part of the discussions had at the Pension Fund Operator Association of Nigeria (PenOp) 4th National Assembly Retreat 2024, held yesterday in Lagos.
Speaking at the deliberation, Sen. Victor Umeh, representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, said his happy to see that the operators have very wide latitude of what to do with trillions of naira under its control and management. While noting that the industry is a very important catalyst to economic development.
On investment, he said the way the operators invest the funds shows that they are very strategic in investment.
According to him, I have seen low risk items that gives you low returns such as treasury bills etc but am particularly happy to see that you are also investing in real estate. Real estate is the investment that provides a very good edge against inflation. This is so because the assets you have in real estate sector will never disappoint you no matter the rate of inflation. We know that when there is inflation real estate performs better.”
He urged operators to pay more attention in real estate, noting that the Nigeria have a huge potential for real estate in terms of provision of housing, properties that are very strategic in nature and when funds are invested in such business it yield positive results than investment in domestic ordinary shares.
The event, which had the Chairman Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Sen. Fasuyi Oluwole; Chairman House Committee on Pensions, Hon. Hussaini Jallo and members of their committee, together with top pension fund managers in attendance, deliberated on several measures to be adopted to make the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) more effective for retirees.
