Ebere Nwoji
The Director General National Pension Commisssion (PenCcom), Ms Omolola Oloworara, has revealed that the agency created additional N10.7 trillion retirement wealth in the last two years.
Oloworara who stated this at the 2026 annual media conference organised by PenCom in Lagos, said the quantum growth recorded in the industry was enabled by various reforms going on in the pension sector.
According to her, “The reforms also saw significant growth in retirees’ take-home benefits especially retirees under treasury funded pension scheme and those under National Social Insurance Trust scheme in which no less that 2,116 retirees received 1,173 per cent increase in their take home benefits thereby relieving the beneficiaries from 21 years of stagnation in pension benefit.”
She said 938,229 Nigerians joined the Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) within the same period, adding that this has expanded the pool of formal retirement savings.
She said monthly pension payments for more than 241,000 retirees increased from N12.15 billion to N14.83 billion following the implementation of pension adjustments, an aspect of the reform going on in the sector.
Oloworaran disclosed that, Treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) now have an exit benefit scheme.
Under the scheme, which took effect from January 1, 2026, eligible employees with at least 10 years of qualifying service receive an additional benefit equivalent to 100 per cent of their total emolument, on top of their normal pension benefits.
She said, the first 175 retirees had already received approximately N1.1 billion under the scheme, adding that this is a full year’s pay as an additional benefit describing it as a demonstration of government’s commitment to workers and retirees.
She said zero tolerance to delayed pension payment which was also an aspect of the pension sector reforms has reduced the time required to process retirement benefits.
According to her, retirement benefits that previously took as long as 21 months to approve are now processed within 48 hours for eligible Federal Government workers.
She added that private-sector retirement benefits, which previously took at least two weeks even under the fastest circumstances, are also now being approved within 48 hours.