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Eric Eggink Urges Africans To Develop Trustworthy Pension Scheme

The Chairman of the World Pension Summit, Mr Eric Eggink, on Monday called on Africans to be developing trustworthy pension schemes so they can be … Continue reading Eric Eggink Urges Africans To Develop Trustworthy Pension Scheme


Eric_EgginkThe Chairman of the World Pension Summit, Mr Eric Eggink, on Monday called on Africans to be developing trustworthy pension schemes so they can be taken care of when they grow old.

Citing Nigeria as one of the leading economies in Africa, Mr Eggink noted that “the demographics show you that pensions will be very important for African countries”.

He urged Africans to “be aware of the importance of pensions and pension schemes” and stressed the need for “developing trustworthy pension schemes not only in Africa, but all over the globe” insisting that the pension is a global issue that must be tackled headlong.

He further stressed the importance for people to embrace the pension scheme, noting that by the year 2015, there will be 2 billion people that will be over 60 years old that “we have to take care of”.

He said discussants at the 10th World Pension Summit, holding in Africa for the first time in Abuja from July 7-8, will be sharing best and worst practices scenario of how pension schemes are being built from different sectors of the economy in different countries all over the world.

Mr Eggink further stressed the importance of choice of investment adding that firms need to convince investors of their credibility and safety of the funds.

“Pensioners should be aware of how you spread the risks”, maintaining that we “have to create a right of expectancy of what is going to be there and how we can create the right vision for the over age and the financing of the over age”, he said, adding that investors should not be made to believe that pension schemes are risk free.

Mr Eggink also spoke about the technological input of the scheme, revealing that “it is about technical schemes of how you build up a pension system and also about the technology of how you build the back office administration” insisting that “if you don’t have a good administration you can’t be transparent with what you are doing with the money”.

Mr Eggink, who was speaking during the Monday edition of Channels Television’s award-winning breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, maintained that for countries where a working social security is not in place “you would have a problem with the profiting because if you don’t take care of the poor people, then you have a problem; the kind of problems that we see happening everyday on the pages of newspapers”.

He also praised the advent of internet in the pensions industry noting that it has helped because people no longer listen to what companies or organisations say; they are intervening and having a dialogue on the internet on what they really need themselves.

Mr Eggink, a Dutch national, also spoke about the World Cup semi-final clash between the Netherlands and Argentina. He hailed the quality of the Argentinians and noted that they are equally as gifted and star-studded as the Dutch team.

He however predicted a win and qualification to the final of the tournament for the Oranje. The match will be played on Tuesday, July 9 at the Arena De Sao Paulo by 8PM.