Another evolution as the Nigerian government plans to utilize N20 trillion from pension funds for infrastructure development: “Critics, including Atiku Abubakar, raised concerns about the legality and potential risks to retirees’ savings, while Finance Minister Wale Edun defended the plan as a means to unlock funds for development. The move sparked a debate on balancing economic growth with the security of pension funds.”
Let me add my voice as we did when the last administration wanted to go after the same funds. First, the Nigerian government has no exogenous or endogenous capacity to return this fund back to pensioners if it is allowed to use it. The Pension fund does not belong to the government, and public pension managers cannot listen to the government on their investment thesis.
Unless we can see the data which shows that giving this special vault to the federal government over other investment asset classes is superior on returns, safety, and other indicators, we condemn this move. The government should just forget this fund and look for other alternatives.
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I call the federal government to pause this initiative because it is anti-people and Nigerians do not support it. For years, the pension funds have been buying federal government securities; let it just end there. But going at this scale, to fund infrastructure, will be terrible.
The pension managers should resist such pressures and stand for workers. If the government needs funds to fund infrastructures, it should do what other countries do: improve rule of law and make Nigeria safer for infrastructure investments. If you do those, private companies will take over these infrastructure burdens.
In America, companies own train lines, bridges, etc, because there are strong property rights. Nigeria should make such possible, and not where you get a building permit, and you build, then in ten years, another government will come and tear down the same building even though a previous one gave you a permit to build. Who will invest in infrastructure when you see how some state governments are bulldozing properties left and right?
If Nigeria focuses on fixing those matters, private funds will come to build our infrastructures since it is clear the government has no kobo.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu virtually commissioned three major gas infrastructure projects on May 15, 2024, aimed at boosting economic growth and promoting the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The projects include the Anoh Gas Processing Plant, Anoh – OB3 Gas Pipeline Project, and the AHL Gas Processing Plant 2. The government has mandated the use of CNG vehicles by its officials and is encouraging the establishment of CNG refueling units across the country. Additionally, the Federal Executive Council approved an initiative to transform Nigeria’s infrastructure and housing sector through private partnerships, and the government is eyeing N20 trillion from the pension fund for infrastructure development.
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They have come up with another crazy idea, and after much blowback, they will rescind, and then get commended for listening. If you still don’t understand the play by now, then keep deluding yourself that this current government really has a recognizable plan on how to advance Nigeria. They are now fully in make some noise mode.
When you have a thieving spirit in you, anywhere you see money, there is that temptation to appropriate it to yourself. The guys in government cannot make sense of how large sum like N20 trillion could sit ‘idle’, while there is need for ‘infrastructure’ development. It’s the same mentality that motivates them to tax businesses and individuals into oblivion, because to them – there is always need to extract more money from the people.
What repayment plan do they have if they are able to lay hands on the pension fund? Nothing, other than printing money and devaluing the naira, with that you can send worthless digits to the bank accounts of anyone due for payment. You are dealing with unconscionable creatures, so the moral quotient is in the negative.
When your own government is after your life, you are required to activate your self-defense. Now you know why the Second Amendment exists in the US…