Divine Sam
The Federal Government has cleared its backlog of accrued pension rights for enrolled federal workers, with funding now extending to December 2029, according to the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering her keynote address at the 2026 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria Conference in Abuja.
Oloworaran, who was represented by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai, said the government had moved from a 21-month funding deficit to a 41-month surplus in meeting its accrued pension obligations.
She explained that the development meant that the pension rights of enrolled federal employees who were yet to retire had been fully funded up to December 2029.
“We are moving from a position where we had, where our full pension rights were 21 months in arrears, to where we are today, 41 months in surplus. And 41 months in surplus means that federal government employees who have not yet retired and who have enrolled have had their accrued pension rights paid up to December 2029,” she said.
The PenCom chief also said delays in the payment of retirement benefits had been largely addressed, noting that retirees now received their pensions within 48 hours of retirement.
“The issue of delays of payment of pension has now become history, and now pensions are being paid within a maximum of 48 hours from retirement,” she said.
She also highlighted the introduction of the PenCare health insurance programme and the N52,500 minimum pension guarantee, both launched by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday.
According to her, PenCare is designed to reduce retirees’ healthcare expenses, allowing them to use more of their monthly pension payments for other needs.
She said the programme was being funded by pension operators and PenCom, with an independent board of trustees chaired by the commission’s pioneer Director-General, Muhammad Ahmad.
On the minimum pension guarantee, Oloworaran explained that eligible retirees currently receiving below N52,500 would have their monthly payments increased to the new minimum, adding that some beneficiaries received payment alerts during the launch.
She further disclosed that the Federal Government had approved additional exit benefits equivalent to 100 per cent of terminal emoluments for eligible retirees, effective January 1, 2026.
“The Federal Government has just approved the payment of 100 per cent of terminal emoluments as additional exit benefits,” she said, adding that eligible retirees who submitted their documents had begun receiving payments.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Tolulope Odunaiya, said the agency had introduced remote verification and improved life-status checks for pensioners under the Defined Benefits Scheme.
Odunaiya, represented by the Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, said the new arrangement would allow pensioners to complete their verification exercises regardless of their location.
“With the new initiative of this verification without borders, pensioners in the US, in Uganda, in our villages can as well do their verification,” she said.
She also announced that registration had commenced for PTAD’s proposed health insurance programme ahead of its official launch.
In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro, called for greater investment of pension funds in infrastructure, housing, energy and other productive sectors to support the country’s ambition of building a $1tn economy.
Ifeanyi-Okoro, represented by Olajumoke Akinwa, said such investments could support national development while safeguarding contributors’ retirement savings.
“Properly channelled into infrastructure, housing, energy, and productive sectors, these funds can help finance the growth we seek, while still protecting the retirement benefits of contributors,” she said.
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, Tunji Andrews, disclosed that the registration requirements for the Personal Pension Plan had been reduced from 25 fields to four to make enrolment easier, particularly for workers in the informal sector.
He said the simplified process had also made it possible for Nigerians to register and make pension contributions through Point of Sale terminals in partnership with Moniepoint and Interswitch.
“As of today, those fields have been reduced to 4 fields only. Because of that innovation, we’ve been able to put onboarding and payments for PPP on POS terminals,” he said.
Andrews also announced the introduction of Pension Oga, an initiative that would deploy agents to markets and communities to register informal sector workers, collect contributions and educate them on the importance of pension savings.
He called for increased public awareness to encourage more Nigerians to participate in the Personal Pension Plan.
Also speaking, the Acting Managing Director of NPF Pensions Limited, Mohammed Dutse, represented by Chukwuma Ohaka, commended ongoing improvements in pension administration, particularly efforts aimed at improving the welfare of retired police officers.
A representative of Citizens Pension Limited, Khayran-Yunusa Aliu, also advocated increased financial inclusion through wider participation in micro-pension schemes.
However, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, called on the Federal Government to extend the newly approved exit benefits to pensioners who retired between 2004 and December 2025.
Abumisi, who was represented by Ahmad Ibrahim-Gazali, also disclosed that N12.3bn had been released for the exit-benefit programme.
Earlier, the President of the Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Nana Musa, urged journalists to promote accountability and public understanding of pension reforms through accurate and responsible reporting.
Leave a Reply