The Federal Government has cleared inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007 through a N758 billion intervention bond, bringing financial relief to 957,045 pension beneficiaries across Nigeria.Read original
The development was disclosed by the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, during the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos.
Oloworaran, who delivered a keynote address titled ‘From Reform to Reality: Renewed Hope, Pension Security for All Nigerians’, said the settlement marked a significant step towards ending years of accumulated pension liabilities inherited by successive administrations.
FG settles pension debts inherited since 2007
According to the PenCom boss, the Federal Government had decided to settle pension obligations that had remained outstanding for years rather than allow them to continue accumulating.
She said the payment represents the fulfilment of the country's obligation to workers who served during their active years.
“The Federal Government cleared all inherited pension liabilities, some dating back to 2007. These obligations passed through multiple administrations, but this government chose to settle them,” Oloworaran said.
She added that workers who had spent their productive years serving the country deserved to have their pension obligations honoured when they retired.
“For too long, that promise was kept slowly, partially, or not at all. Today, I can report that this has changed—not in aspiration, but in fact,” she said.
Retirees to receive faster pension payments
PenCom also disclosed that accrued pension rights for federal workers expected to retire up to December 2029 have already been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts.
The commission said this followed a one-time verification and enrolment exercise designed to address outstanding records and reduce delays in retirement payments.
PenCom has also introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy, aimed at ensuring that retirement benefits are aligned with monthly public service salary cycles.
The policy is expected to help workers move from active employment into retirement without experiencing prolonged financial gaps.
The commission further revealed that the processing time for pension benefits has been reduced dramatically, from as long as 21 months to about 48 hours.
PenCom plans wider pension awareness
Oloworaran said the pension industry was also working to improve awareness among Nigerians, particularly those who remain outside the formal pension system.
She said the Pension Industry Council's stakeholder management and advocacy committee had developed programmes aimed at improving pension literacy and reaching more Nigerians.
She explained that activities planned around Pension Week would include awareness campaigns, adequacy discussions, state visits and stakeholder engagement.
“We do have a lot to do, and we recognise that, both at the industry level and also in PenCom as well,” she said.
States urged to join contributory pension scheme
PenCom is also engaging state governments on expanding pension coverage and improving the adequacy of benefits paid to retirees.
Oloworaran said discussions with states were focused on two major areas: encouraging states that have not yet joined the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to do so and ensuring that pension payments are adequate enough to cope with inflation.
She said the commission wanted pension increases to at least compensate retirees for the effects of rising prices.
2,116 NSITF retirees get major pension increase
The conference also highlighted reforms affecting retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
According to PenCom, a 21-year review of their pension payments resulted in an average increase of 1,173 per cent for 2,116 NSITF retirees.
The review was accompanied by the payment of N8.7 billion in arrears.
The commission also disclosed that Pension Boost 1.0 increased monthly payments under the Contributory Pension Scheme from N12.15 billion to N14.83 billion.
More than 241,000 retirees are benefiting from the increase.
Oloworaran said the effectiveness of any government in protecting workers should also be judged by how it treats them after their years of active service.
PenCare programme to support 30,000 retirees
PenCom also announced plans for additional welfare programmes for vulnerable pensioners.
One of the initiatives is PenCare, a free healthcare support programme that 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 cover more informal-sector workers.
The expansion will target groups such as traders and artisans through a nationwide network of agents.
93% of Nigerian workers operate in informal sector
At the conference, the Director of PenCom's Personal Pension Plans Department, Dr Babatunde Alayande, highlighted the enormous pension coverage gap among self-employed and informal-sector workers.
Alayande said 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 Nigeria's GDP, the sector has extremely low pension coverage.
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, with about 96 per cent of employed women working in the informal sector.
How the Personal Pension Plan works
Alayande explained that the Personal Pension Plan, established under Section 2(3) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, provides a flexible retirement savings option for people outside traditional formal employment.
The scheme is available to self-employed workers, traders, artisans, farmers, gig workers, formal-sector employees, foreign contributors and minors through voluntary parental registration.
Contributions can be made daily, weekly or monthly through channels including USSD, mobile money and bank transfers.
The scheme also requires minimal documentation, with a phone number and National Identification Number sufficient for onboarding.
Contributions are divided into two portions.
Half goes into a contingent portion that can be accessed three months after the initial contribution and subsequently once every two months, while the other 50 per cent is reserved for retirement and becomes accessible from age 50 or in cases of medical incapacitation.
Six new pension agents accredited
To improve access to pension services in underserved areas, PenCom said it accredited six Accredited Pension Agents in 2026.
They include Awabah Remit Services Limited, e-Tranzact International Limited, NextAutomate APA Limited, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited, PrimeTrust APA Limited and Majestic APA Limited.
Alayande, however, warned that simply registering more people would not automatically solve Nigeria's pension coverage problem.
He stressed that the real measure of success would be whether registered contributors continued making regular payments.
“Access does not automatically lead to active saving,” he said, adding that “registrations are not the measure of success.”
He also noted that Nigerians must have confidence in institutions responsible for managing long-term retirement savings.
PenCom targets informal workers with new strategies
To improve participation, PenCom is pursuing strategies that include multilingual awareness campaigns, simpler digital registration processes, gender-sensitive products, Sharia-compliant pension products and partnerships with development organisations.
The commission believes these measures could help bring more workers in the informal economy into the pension system.
Speaking at the conference, the Chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors, Ebere Nwoji, commended Oloworaran for her leadership and commitment to pensioners.
She praised the PenCom DG's approach to managing the commission and described her performance as evidence of a strong understanding of the financial sector.
Labour leader backs pension reforms
A representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Iwa Iko, also expressed support for the reforms.
Iko said he was particularly qualified to assess the development because he was a member of the Chief Fola Adeola Committee that helped develop the architecture for Nigeria's modern pension reforms.
He also disclosed that he retired as a director in the Federal Public Service under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“I can say that I’m the face of the Contributory Pension Scheme,” Iko said, adding that he would defend the reforms anywhere.
He further revealed that he had personally begun receiving increased pension payments following the recent review.
According to him, he had received an alert of about N32,000 after the pension review and showed the payment notification to his wife.
The latest measures announced by PenCom point to a broader effort to clear inherited pension obligations, speed up retirement benefit payments and expand pension coverage beyond Nigeria's formal workforce.
