.. As FG Secures €30Mn Loan For Student Housing Projects
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the issuance by the Debt Management Office (DMO) of a N758 billion ($847 million) bond to settle outstanding pension liabilities, as a major step toward off-setting the backlog of entitlements owed retirees under the pre-2004 defined benefit scheme.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, who gave the hint shortly after the FEC meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, said the approval was sequel to a long-standing demand from pensioners awaiting payments that had accumulated over the years.
Edun recalled that the pension liabilities arose from the transition to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004, which was later modified in 2014.
Under the previously defined benefit system, beneficiaries were required to receive periodic adjustments to their pensions every five years or in line with wage increases, which has led to funding gaps over the past years.
Edun told State House correspondents that the FEC’s approval “will provide much-needed relief to pensioners who have been waiting for their entitlements.”
Aside the pension bond approval by the FEC, it also approved a €30 million ($32.5 million) long-term concessional financing deal from Agence Française de Développement (AFD), France’s development agency, to build hostels for students in tertiary institutions nationwide.
The financing, which will be executed in partnership with Family Homes Limited, the implementing agency, aligns with the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s broader agenda to enhance access to affordable housing for students in tertiary institutions and boost education sector infrastructure
Development experts believe that the approved N758 billion pension bond issuance represents a fiscal commitment of the Tinubu’s administration to address structural imbalances inherited from previous governments.
Similarly, they noted that the €30 million AFD loan for students’ accommodation demonstrated the Federal Government’s efforts to attract foreign support for critical infrastructure projects, despite tightening global financial conditions.
