PAL Pensions takes savings culture to schools

Pension Alliance Limited (PAL), one of the top Pension Fund Administrators (PFA’s) in the country as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is taking financial literacy awareness campaign to primary and secondary schools across the country. The company believes that inculcating the tenets of good financial management to this young generation of Nigerians at this early stage of life will build in them the savings culture that no doubt eluded the present generation of adult Nigerians.

This is also to consolidate the ongoing efforts in the nation’s financial services market of creating a wider savings culture through financial inclusion as being promoted by the different financial industry regulators – Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) among others.

On this campaign flag-off tagged “Financial Literacy Initiative in Schools” which coincided with the 2014 Children’s Day celebration, PAL is engaging 25 schools in Nigeria with twenty in Lagos and five in other parts of the country.

Dave Oduanu, managing director/CEO PAL Pensions Limited who led a team of the Company to Home Science Association Primary School, Ikoyi said this is the start of our CSR initiative with regards to financial literacy. “In the past, we use to have CSR whereby we visit motherless babies’ home and old people’s home to donate things to them. But this year, we thought we should expand it to promote financial literacy in a bid to improve financial inclusion.”

According to him, the idea is to teach them what money is all about, how to save money and what to do with money. By so doing, we begin to inculcate the culture of savings in them right from their young age.

“If they cultivate that habit, when they grow up the culture of savings will resonate with them. We also gave piggy banks to the deserving pupils so that they will begin to save right away. As this is an annual event, our intension is that next year, when we come back, we will select the kids with the highest amount of savings and give them further prizes just to encourage them to save more, Uduanu said.

Eriakha Mathew of Pension Alliance who also led the company’s team to AP College Ejigbo said the campaign was about catching them young, and it’s designed to make the Nigerians of the future appreciate the importance of savings as critical to building long term wealth.

The campaign, which exposed the students to how key personalities that have made riches in Nigeria rose to the ladder, Eriakha noted it was intended to encourage them build role models as they grow up.

James Imana, head teacher, Home Science Association Primary School said this is a welcome idea because we always want to expose our children to the best, and financial literacy is very important in becoming what you want to be in life.

 

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