Business
CEO Wants Penetration Of Pension Funds In Private Equity

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Augusto and Company, Mr Olabode Augusto says there is need to increase the penetration of pension funds in private equity.
He said there were micro risks the Nigerian company is facing, as the country prepare for the 2019 general election, despite the increase in oil prices.
Augusto, who stated this while speaking at a roundtable conference on how to boost the private sector, in Lagos, Monday, said one of the micro risks includes the non-availability of private fund the private sector could utilise to contribute its own quota to economic development.
He noted that the private sector was starved of funds because the banks were not lending any more.
“The option available to private sector is pension and insurance funds. The penetration of pension funds into the private sector through private equity would boost performance of the private sector and automatically boost the country’s GDP.
“There are also challenges that limited the penetration of pension funds into the private sector and the first is due to the regulations of National Pension Commission (PenCon).
“The only way pension funds could be penetrated is through private equity funds. This means that the players in the private sector needed to get listed on the Stock Exchange.
“Secondary, there is need for the private sector players to open their financial report for assessment, which they avoid always.
“This is needed to engage financial analysts, pension practitioners, pensioners and private sector players to stem up deliberations on challenges of private equity funding to enable pension penetration,” Augusto said.