President Bola Tinubu has appointed Ms. Omolola Bridget Oloworaran as the new Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
This was disclosed by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President, on Saturday in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
Ms. Oloworaran will succeed Aisha Dahir-Umar.
President Tinubu also approved the appointment of Mr. Oluwaseun Faleye as the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), according to Ajuri.
Mr. Faleye is a legal and corporate finance specialist.
Banking expert
According to Ajuri, Ms. Oloworaran is a finance and banking expert with many years of experience.
While the appointment is subject to the confirmation of the Nigerian Senate, the presidency urges the new appointee to make Pencom more efficient.
“The President anticipates a goal-oriented leadership to drive efficiency and superlative performance in the National Pension Commission as the prime regulator of the Nigerian Pension Industry, ” the statement partly reads.
More insights
The announcement comes as the Nigerian pension industry maintained its uptrend, reaching an all-time high of N20.23 trillion, in May 2024.
This marks an impressive N4.12 trillion increase over the past year, according to Nairalytics, the Nairametrics research team.
Data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) indicates that the total pension assets in the industry surged to N20.23 trillion in May 2024, up from N16.11 trillion in May 2023, representing a 25.6% year-on-year increase.
Compared to the previous month, the asset value increased by 2.23% from the N19.79 trillion recorded as of the previous month.
The increase in the industry’s assets under management can be attributed to the growing adoption and acceptance of pension schemes by Nigerians and the high yields on investments.
Additionally, the number of total pension registrations saw a year-over-year increase of 3.2%, rising from 9.99 million in May 2023 to 10.32 million in May 2024.
A notable aspect of the growth is the significant portion of the funds channelled into FGN securities. In the one-year period under review, 57.1% of the total gains, amounting to N2.07 trillion, were invested in federal government securities, particularly Treasury Bills. This allocation is driven mainly by regulatory guidelines and high-yielding fixed-income instruments.