By Victor Ahiuma-Young
The National Pension Commission, PenCom, has credited accrued pension rights to the Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, of enrolled federal employees due to retire up to December 2029, in a major step towards ensuring timely payment of retirement benefits.
The Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this, also highlighted the Federal Government’s efforts to settle outstanding pension obligations and improve retirement security for Nigerian workers.
“Through our one-time verification and enrolment exercise, accrued rights have already been credited to the Retirement Savings Accounts of enrolled federal employees due to retire up to December 2029,” Oloworaran said.
She urged eligible employees and Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to complete the enrolment exercise before it closes in December 2026.
The PenCom Director General said the initiative formed part of broader reforms aimed at eliminating delays in the payment of retirement benefits and ensuring that workers receive their entitlements as and when due.
According to her, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had approved a N758 billion Federal Government Pension Bond to settle inherited pension liabilities, some of which had remained outstanding since 2007. She informed that payments through the bond had reached 957,045 beneficiaries.
“These obligations had passed from one administration to the next. This administration chose to settle them,” she said.
Oloworaran further revealed that retirement benefits that previously took up to 21 months to approve were now being processed within 48 hours under a mandatory service standard for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
“Twenty-one months. Forty-eight hours,” she said.
She added that PenCom’s Zero Waiting Time policy was enabling federal retirees to begin receiving their pensions as they retired, in line with the monthly salary cycle.
The Director-General also highlighted the impact of Pension Boost 1.0, which increased monthly pensions for more than 241,000 retirees, raising total monthly payments from ₦12.15 billion to ₦14.83 billion.
In addition, pensions for 2,116 retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) were reviewed for the first time in 21 years, resulting in a 1,173 per cent increase. She said ₦8.70 billion in arrears had also been paid to the affected retirees.
“Governments are often remembered for what they promised. Statesmen are remembered for what they paid,” Oloworaran said.
Oloworaran said pension assets had risen from ₦20.79 trillion in July 2024 to ₦31.48 trillion in June 2026, while 938,229 Nigerians joined the Contributory Pension Scheme during the same period.
She, however, stressed the need for employers to remit pension contributions promptly, warning that deductions from workers’ salaries that failed to reach their RSAs constituted a breach of trust and the law.
“A deduction on a payslip that does not reach a Retirement Savings Account is a breach of trust and a breach of the law,” she said.
PenCom reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening pension administration and ensuring that eligible workers and retirees receive their entitlements promptly. The commission urged all eligible federal employees to complete the required verification and enrolment procedures before the December 2026 deadline.
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