MINISTER of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has advocated a collective national attitude that would make it possible to invest the over N5 trillion in pensions funds into the real sectors as a means of diversifying the economy and achieving growth.

The minister, who spoke in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at the Nigerian Pension Industry Strategy Implementation Roadmap Retreat, said with the dwindling revenue from crude oil, there was need to diversify and change the face of the nation’s economy once and for all.

In his address titled: “Overcoming the Challenges and Managing the Risks and Constraints that Inhibit the Investment of Private Capital and Funds in Nigeria’s Infrastructure Landscape in Order to Make a Visible Economic Impact,” Fashola noted that with the right attitude to diversification utilizing the huge fund representing the contribution of Nigeria’s working class Pension it could be shown that the national economy is bigger than the challenges posed by the dwindling oil prices.

“Today’s reality is that we are in another cycle of burst. Oil prices have crashed from over $100 per barrel and now hovering around $30 per barrel and there is a real chance that it will fall lower.

“For over three decades we have mouthed the need to diversify our economy in order to open up more sectors for productive activities, income, economic growth and jobs. But we failed to follow through because of oil resources. Every time the cycle burst, we scampered, and promised to diversify but we soon drop the idea because not too far on the horizon is a boom in oil prices and we go back to an old life,” Fashola said.

Fashola, who said the use of the Pension Fund for diversification would not be free, pointed out: “The pension funds, which are under the management of Pension Funds Administrators will not go into roads, rail, housing, hospitals or universities unless we change our attitude.

“The new pension fund has shown what can happen if people resolve to contribute and pay their way.

It was difficult to get private capital into critical sectors of our economy like infrastructure. Private capital and fund managers were not going to invest funds entrusted to them in infrastructure if we wanted to use them for free. As a people, we were willing to pay for these services outside our country but demanded that they be provided for free in our country.”