The National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Nigeria’s pension regulator, has been in the news recently. PENCOM is reportedly working on new rules that would give pension fund managers more freedom to invest in private equity and other alternative assets beyond Nigeria's borders. The big story is that they are rethinking the “60% domicile rule,” which currently forces pension-backed private equity (PE) and infrastructure funds to allocate the majority of their portfolios to Nigerian projects. Easing this requirement matters because it would allow funds to diversify regionally and create more attractive vehicles for both local and international LPs.
At first glance, pension fund administrators (PFA) and African PE appear to be a natural fit. Pension funds manage long-dated liabilities and seek steady, inflation-beating returns; private equity offers multi-year growth opportunities and the chance to build productive capacity across African economies. In fact, PFAs themselves have signalled this alignment. According to AVCA’s 2021
