“We must not play politics with our economy investors want continuity” - Fashola

Fashola spoke in Abuja at the Nigerian Pension Industry Strategy Implementation Roadmap meeting.

The Minister of Power Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola at the weekend shed light on speculations that the current administration will revoke contracts awarded under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

He lamented on how successive governments revoked contracts of previous regimes, noting that the practice destroyed investor confidence in an economy.

The minister stated that if approved contracts must be touched, the best approach was to renegotiate rather than outright revocation.

“We must not play politics with our economy. Investors want continuity,” he said.

Fashola warned against playing politics with economic survival, as investors want continuity of government policies.

Fashola, who lamented infrastructure deficit in Africa, said: “This is the time to show that our nation and our national economy is bigger than the challenges posed by dwindling oil prices. This is the time to diversify and change the face of our economy. But the risks that stand in the way of investing the fund are caused by us and they must be changed by us.

“Perhaps, the appropriate starting point will be to acknowledge that pension reforms are just beginning to gain a foothold across most of Africa in jurisdictions as Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya and Uganda, to mention a few.

“Perhaps the biggest and most advanced of the pension funds, especially in sub-Saharan Africa is the South African Pension Fund. But while the sizes of these funds are happily growing, and the number of contributors increasing, the impact in the quality of life on the continent is not yet anywhere near minimum globally acceptable standards,” he added.

PenCom said in the first quarter of 201, N4.44 billion was paid as death benefits to the next of kin of 1,450 deceased employees. So far, about N77.18 billion has been paid to the next of kin of 27,321 deceased employees from inception to the end of the first quarter of 2015.