PenCom clears pension arrears for 957,000 retirees as assets hit ₦31.5 trillion
PenCom has cleared pension arrears for 957,000 retirees, with some dating back to 2007, as pension assets grew 51% to ₦31.48 trillion.
The National Pension Commission has cleared pension arrears for 957,000 retirees, with some of the outstanding payments dating back to 2007. At the same time, the commission’s assets grew by 51 percent to ₦31.48 trillion, according to the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Omolola Oloworaran.
Briefing State House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, the PenCom DG listed her achievements since assuming office two years ago, noting that the commission had deployed a record ₦758 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities accumulated over nearly two decades, benefiting 957,000 retirees. She said the performance over the past two years reflected a resurgence of confidence in the pension system, with an additional 938,229 Nigerians joining the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“Pension assets have grown from ₦20.79 trillion to ₦31.48 trillion – creating over ₦10.7 trillion in new retirement wealth and growing by 51 percent in just two years. Let me be direct about what these numbers mean: confidence is back on track,” she said.
Other measures include a landmark pension enhancement programme that raised the monthly pension of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme. The commission also conducted the first review of pensions under the National Social Insurance Trust Fund in 21 years, with some pensioners receiving increases of over 1000 percent.
Oloworaran also revealed that the commission’s policies had attracted more than 900,000 new contributors. She assured that the PenCom is working on a plan to improve the welfare of retired police personnel by aligning their pensions with those of military retirees. “They are worried that their pensions are too small, and we are working to fix that. Once we are able to improve their pension, they will be happy,” she said.
The commission has also digitalised pension services, reducing the time for benefit approvals from months to 48 hours. “We have also transformed the retirement experience. What used to take months to process can now be approved in 48 hours. That is not a metric; it is a mandatory requirement binding on every pension fund administrator,” she said.
This echoes the 2004 pension reform, which introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme and transformed Nigeria’s pension system. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: a system that is gradually delivering for retirees.
The winners: 957,000 retirees who have received their arrears; the Nigerian pension system, which has regained confidence; and the Nigerian economy, which benefits from a growing pool of long-term savings. The losers: the employers who failed to remit pension contributions; and the retirees still waiting for their pensions.
Bottom Line: PenCom has cleared pension arrears for nearly a million retirees. Assets have grown 51 percent. Confidence is back. That is good news for Nigeria’s retirees. The question is whether the commission can sustain the momentum.