morganable politics/Governance
Oloworaran said the government’s intervention had moved the pension system beyond promises by addressing liabilities that had remained unresolved for years
KaNo—
The Federal Government has cleared 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, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos.
Oloworaran, who spoke during her keynote address titled, “From Reform to Reality: Renewed Hope, Pension Security for All Nigerians,” said the settlement represented the clearance of pension obligations accumulated under successive administrations.
She said the Federal Government had cleared all inherited pension liabilities, including obligations dating back to 2007.
According to her, the decision to settle the outstanding liabilities demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that workers who had completed their years of service were not left without their retirement benefits.
The PenCom boss said the settlement was part of broader institutional reforms aimed at strengthening pension administration and improving the welfare of retirees.
She noted that workers deserved assurance that the country would honour its obligations to them after their years of service.
Oloworaran said the government’s intervention had moved the pension system beyond promises by addressing liabilities that had remained unresolved for years.
She said the settlement of the inherited debts was only one component of reforms being implemented in the pension sector.
According to her, accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 have already been credited directly to their Retirement Savings Accounts.
She said the exercise followed a comprehensive one-time verification and enrolment programme designed to ensure that workers’ pension rights were captured ahead of their retirement.
The commission also introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy aimed at ensuring that workers receive their retirement benefits without prolonged delays after leaving public service.
Under the policy, retirement payouts are to be aligned with monthly public service salary cycles, allowing workers to transition from employment into retirement without a financial gap.
PenCom also disclosed that the turnaround time for processing pension benefits had been significantly reduced, from as much as 21 months to 48 hours.
The development is expected to reduce one of the longstanding challenges faced by retirees who often had to wait for extended periods before accessing their benefits.
Beyond clearing outstanding liabilities, PenCom said it was working to improve pension awareness and expand coverage among Nigerians who remain outside the formal pension system.
Oloworaran said pension awareness remained an important part of the commission’s agenda and that the Pension Industry Council had established a stakeholder management and advocacy committee to coordinate activities aimed at improving pension literacy.
She said the planned activities would include awareness campaigns, pension adequacy discussions, state visits and stakeholder engagement.
The commission also disclosed that it was engaging state governments on the adoption of the Contributory Pension Scheme and the adequacy of retirement benefits.
Oloworaran said discussions with states were focused on two major areas: ensuring that states yet to join the Contributory Pension Scheme were onboarded and improving the adequacy of benefits paid to retirees already covered.
She said pension payments needed to take inflation into account so that retirees would not lose significant purchasing power as the cost of living increased.
The conference also highlighted measures aimed at improving payments to retirees under existing pension arrangements.
One of the measures involved the review of pensions for retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
PenCom said the 21-year review resulted in an average increase of 1,173 per cent in pension payments for 2,116 NSITF retirees.
The review was accompanied by the payment of N8.7bn in outstanding arrears owed to the beneficiaries.
The commission also disclosed that the implementation of Pension Boost 1.0 had increased monthly pension payments under the Contributory Pension Scheme from N12.15bn to N14.83bn.
The increase directly affected the monthly benefits of more than 241,000 retirees across the country.
Oloworaran said the treatment of workers after retirement remained an important measure of the government’s commitment to the workforce.
She noted that government responsibility towards workers should extend beyond their years of active service to ensuring that pension obligations were fulfilled when they retired.
PenCom also announced plans for additional welfare interventions targeting vulnerable retirees.
One of the initiatives is the PenCare free healthcare support programme, which is expected to begin with a pilot involving 30,000 low-income retirees.
The commission also plans to activate a statutory Minimum Pension Guarantee baseline as part of measures to strengthen retirement income protection.
Another major area of focus is the expansion of the Micro Pension Plan to informal sector workers, including traders and artisans.
PenCom said the expansion would be supported by a nationwide network of agents who would help bring pension services closer to workers outside the formal economy.
The Director of the Personal Pension Plans Department at PenCom, Babatunde Alayande, highlighted the scale of the challenge facing the pension industry during a presentation titled, “Expanding Pension Coverage to the Self-employed and Informal Sector Workers: The Journey So Far.”
Alayande said 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 country’s Gross Domestic Product, he said pension coverage among informal workers remained extremely low.
According to him, only 242,690 people had enrolled in the Personal Pension Plan as of July 2026, leaving a coverage gap of 99.71 per cent.
Women are particularly affected by the gap, with Alayande noting that 96 per cent of employed women work in the informal sector.
He said expanding pension coverage among informal workers was therefore critical to ensuring that a large proportion of Nigerians did not reach retirement age without adequate financial protection.
The Personal Pension Plan was established under Section 2(3) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 to provide flexible retirement savings arrangements for people outside the conventional formal employment structure.
Alayande said the plan was open to self-employed persons, traders, artisans, farmers, gig workers, formal sector employees, foreign contributors and minors through voluntary parental registration.
He explained that contributors could make daily, weekly or monthly payments through USSD, mobile money or direct bank transfers.
The scheme requires minimal documentation, including a phone number and National Identification Number, according to PenCom.
Contributions are divided equally between a contingent portion and a retirement benefits portion.
The 50 per cent contingent component can be withdrawn three months after the initial contribution and subsequently once every two months, while the remaining 50 per cent is preserved as retirement savings and becomes accessible at age 50 or in cases of medical incapacitation.
With the latest interventions, PenCom is seeking to address both existing pension liabilities and gaps that could create future retirement insecurity.
The clearance of N758bn in inherited liabilities, combined with faster benefit processing, advance crediting of accrued pension rights and efforts to expand coverage, marks a significant shift in the commission’s approach to pension administration.
However, the continued low coverage of informal sector workers remains a major challenge, particularly given the size of the workforce outside the formal economy.
PenCom’s planned expansion of the Micro Pension Plan and Personal Pension Plan is therefore expected to remain central to efforts to broaden retirement protection and ensure that more Nigerians can access pension benefits when they leave the workforce.
