More than N600 billion have been realised from workers contributions to the National Pension Fund since its operation two years ago. The Director-General, National Pension Commission, Alhaji Kabir Ahmed, who made this known to newsmen, said that 1.6 million workers had so far registered with the different pension funds. OSGF Bulletin quoted Ahmed as saying that additional staff including retirees were still registering with the commission.

Ahmed said that about N40 billion of the N80 billion released to the commission by the federal government had been transmitted to pension fund administrators while the balance would be release to them in stages.

“I am glad to state that 50 per cent of companies operating in the private sector have joined the new pension system,” he said. The director-general said that 90 per cent of federal workers had registered with the Commission, adding that some states had indicated interest in joining the scheme. He said that with N600 billion from the workers and N547 billion managed by Shell Petroleum Closed Pension Fund and Trust Fund Pension the three institutions had more than N1 trillion fund under their control. Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) stated in its 2006 report that the federal government had issued a special bond for the payment of pension arrears which accumulated over the year.

The report said that the Budget Office in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria scrutinised N75 billion pension arrears during the quarter. The report, however, said that the bond’s marginal interest yield stood at 12.5 per cent annually. “The bonds which would rank higher with the existing federal government bonds would mature on July 2009,” the report said. The report said that all the five bids received by the office would be successful.