The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has said more than 241,000 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have benefited from increases in their monthly pensions under the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Oloworaran disclosed that the adjustment, implemented under Pension Boost 1.0, raised the combined monthly pension payments to the beneficiaries from N12.15bn to N14.83bn.
She described the increase as a landmark reform, noting that it was the first time retirees under the contributory pension scheme had received a pension adjustment across the board.
According to her, the initiative was designed to improve retirement security and ensure that pensioners benefit from reforms in the country’s pension industry.
The PenCom boss also announced a major review of pensions under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), saying beneficiaries had waited 21 years for an adjustment.
She said the commission invoked the relevant legal provisions to facilitate the review, which resulted in a 1,173 per cent increase in pensions for eligible NSITF retirees.
The adjustment raised the combined monthly pension payments to 2,168 NSITF retirees from N12.56m to N159.95m.
Oloworaran added that the Federal Government had paid N8.7bn in outstanding pension arrears owed to the beneficiaries, bringing relief to retirees who had waited years for their entitlements.
Beyond the NSITF pension review, she said the Tinubu administration had approved a N758bn intervention to settle inherited federal government pension liabilities, some of which had remained outstanding since 2007.
According to the PenCom director-general, payments under the intervention had reached hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries, helping to clear obligations accumulated over successive administrations.
She further disclosed that accrued pension rights were being credited to eligible federal employees ahead of retirement following a verification and enrolment exercise covering workers due to retire up to December 2029.
Oloworaran said the commission had also introduced a zero-waiting-time policy to ensure that federal employees begin receiving their pensions upon retirement, eliminating the prolonged delays that previously characterised the process.
She added that retirement benefit applications, which had taken up to 21 months to process, were now subject to a mandatory 48-hour service standard for pension fund administrators.
The reforms, she explained, were aimed at improving service delivery and ensuring that retirees could access their entitlements without unnecessary bureaucratic delays.
The PenCom boss also highlighted the introduction of an exit benefit scheme for eligible employees of treasury-funded ministries, departments and agencies with at least 10 years of qualifying service.
Under the scheme, eligible retirees receive an additional benefit equivalent to 100 per cent of their annual emoluments, alongside their normal pension benefits.
Oloworaran disclosed that the first batch of 175 retirees received approximately N1.1bn under the scheme in August 2026.
While improving benefits for existing retirees, she said PenCom was also working to expand pension coverage to Nigerians in the informal sector, including traders, artisans, farmers and transport workers.
She explained that the commission was deploying accredited pension agents to markets, workshops and other business locations to encourage self-employed Nigerians to participate in the Personal Pension Plan.
The initiative, she said, was intended to address low pension penetration in the informal sector and provide more Nigerians with opportunities to build retirement savings.
Providing an update on the growth of the pension industry, Oloworaran said 938,229 Nigerians joined the pension scheme between July 2024 and June 2026.
She added that pension assets increased from N20.7tn in July 2024 to N31.48tn in June 2026, representing growth of more than N10.7tn in less than two years.
The director-general also disclosed that PenCom had recovered N36.6bn from employers who failed to remit pension contributions deducted from workers’ salaries as of July 2026.
She said recoveries in 2025 set a record for annual collections since the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme, adding that the commission had already surpassed the previous year’s record in 2026.
Oloworaran warned employers against deducting pension contributions without remitting them into workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts, describing the practice as a breach of trust and the law.
Looking ahead, she said the commission was preparing to introduce additional measures to strengthen retirement security, including a minimum pension guarantee and a healthcare programme for low-income retirees.
The proposed healthcare initiative, known as PenCare, is expected to provide essential medical services at no cost to an initial 30,000 eligible retirees.
She explained that the minimum pension guarantee would establish a floor below which eligible retirees under the contributory pension scheme should not receive pension payments.
According to her, the two initiatives are part of broader efforts to strengthen social protection, improve retirement outcomes and expand access to pension benefits.
Oloworaran also disclosed that PenCom had begun work on a Pension Transformation Agenda 2030, which would establish clear priorities and measurable targets for the industry while strengthening accountability in pension administration.
She said the commission would continue to focus on protecting contributors’ savings, improving the payment of retirement benefits and ensuring that more Nigerians could look forward to financial security after leaving active employment.
