The Federal Government has settled inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007 through a N758bn intervention bond, providing financial relief to 957,045 pension beneficiaries across the country.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this during her keynote address at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos on Tuesday. The conference was themed, “From Reform to Reality: Renewed Hope, Pension Security for All Nigerians.”
Oloworaran said the settlement marked a significant step towards resolving pension obligations that had accumulated across successive administrations. She described the payment as the fulfilment of a longstanding responsibility to workers who had completed their years of service.
According to her, the Federal Government had cleared all inherited pension liabilities, including obligations dating as far back as 2007. She said the development demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that retirees were not left waiting indefinitely for benefits owed to them.
The PenCom boss also announced that accrued pension rights for federal workers due to retire up to December 2029 had already been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts. She said this was achieved following a comprehensive one-time verification and enrolment exercise.
As part of measures to prevent a recurrence of pension backlogs, PenCom has introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy. The policy is designed to synchronise retirement payments with monthly public service salary cycles, allowing workers to move into retirement without prolonged financial gaps.
Oloworaran further disclosed that the commission had significantly reduced the time required to process pension benefits, with turnaround time falling from as much as 21 months to about 48 hours.
On efforts to improve pension awareness, she said the Pension Industry Council was working through its stakeholder management and advocacy committee to develop a structured programme for engaging Nigerians. She added that Pension Week activities would also focus on awareness, adequacy and wider engagement with the public.
The PenCom DG said the commission was also engaging state governments on two major areas: increasing participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme and improving the adequacy of pension payments. She explained that the objective was to encourage states to join the scheme while ensuring that pension adjustments take inflation into consideration.
The conference also highlighted measures aimed at improving benefits under existing pension arrangements. Among them was the review of pensions for retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF.
The 21-year review resulted in an average increase of 1,173 per cent for 2,116 NSITF retirees, while N8.7bn in outstanding arrears was fully settled.
Another initiative, Pension Boost 1.0, increased monthly payments under the Contributory Pension Scheme from N12.15bn to N14.83bn. The adjustment has benefited more than 241,000 retirees nationwide by increasing their monthly pension income.
Oloworaran said the way a government treats its workers after they leave active service remains an important measure of its commitment to worker welfare, stressing that pension obligations must be fulfilled alongside other responsibilities to employees.
PenCom also announced additional welfare measures, including the PenCare free healthcare programme, which will initially target 30,000 low-income retirees. The commission also plans to activate a statutory Minimum Pension Guarantee and expand the Micro Pension Plan to reach more informal sector workers.
At the conference, the Director of the Personal Pension Plans Department at PenCom, Dr Babatunde Alayande, said expanding pension coverage among self-employed and informal sector workers remained a major priority.
Alayande disclosed that about 93 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce, representing approximately 84.92 million workers, operates in the informal sector. Despite accounting for between 58 and 65 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, fewer than three out of every 1,000 informal workers are currently covered by a pension scheme.
He said only 242,690 people were enrolled in the Personal Pension Plan as of July 2026, leaving a coverage gap of 99.71 per cent. Women, he noted, face an even greater challenge, with 96 per cent of employed women working in the informal sector.
According to Alayande, the Personal Pension Plan, established under Section 2(3) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, provides a flexible retirement savings option for self-employed persons, traders, artisans, farmers, gig workers and other categories of contributors. It also allows formal sector employees, foreign contributors and minors through voluntary parental registration.
He explained that contributors can make daily, weekly or monthly payments through USSD, mobile money or bank transfers, with onboarding requiring only minimal documentation, including a phone number and National Identification Number.
Under the arrangement, contributions are divided equally between a 50 per cent contingent portion and a 50 per cent retirement benefits portion. The contingent component can be accessed three months after the initial contribution and subsequently once every two months, while the retirement component becomes accessible at age 50 or in cases of medical incapacitation.
To improve access in underserved areas, PenCom accredited six Accredited Pension Agents in 2026. They are Awabah Remit Services Limited, e-Tranzact International Limited, NextAutomate APA Limited, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited, PrimeTrust APA Limited and Majestic APA Limited.
Alayande, however, cautioned that increasing registration numbers alone would not guarantee better retirement security. He stressed the importance of ensuring that registered contributors continue making regular payments.
He said PenCom was therefore pursuing strategies including multilingual public awareness campaigns, simplified digital registration, gender-sensitive products, Sharia-compliant options and partnerships with development organisations to encourage sustained participation.
The Chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors, Ebere Nwoji, commended Oloworaran for her leadership of the commission and her focus on improving the welfare of pensioners.
Also speaking, a representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Iwa Iko, said his personal experience under the Contributory Pension Scheme had given him confidence in the reforms. Iko said he was a member of the Chief Fola Adeola Committee that developed the framework for Nigeria’s modern pension reforms and later retired as a Director in the Federal Public Service under the CPS.
Iko also said the recent pension review had produced a noticeable improvement in his own benefits, citing an increase in the pension alerts he received following the review of payments to CPS retirees.
SOURCE: PUNCH
