Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has transformed the country’s pension administration over the past two decades, positioning it as a driver of financial security and national development.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, said this at a stakeholders’ conference for federal employees and pensioners in Abuja. She noted that the CPS has shifted Nigeria away from an era of unpaid entitlements to one anchored on transparency, sustainability, and inclusiveness.
Represented by the Acting Commissioner (Technical), Hafiz Ibrahim, Oloworaran disclosed that the scheme now covers more than 10 million Nigerians, spanning public servants, private sector workers, artisans, and the self-employed under the Personal Pension Plan. Pension assets, she added, have grown beyond N25 trillion, fueling national development through strategic investments.
“Today, over 552,000 retirees receive steady monthly pensions, while another 291,735 have accessed lump sums, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to more than 844,000 across public and private sectors,” she said.
Key reforms, according to her, include Pension Boost 1.0, which raised monthly pensions for over 241,000 retirees, and the reintroduction of gratuity for civil servants. She added that since July, retirees no longer wait to access their entitlements, as payments are now immediate and aligned with federal salary disbursements.
Other initiatives under PenCom’s “Pension Revolution 2.0” include the issuance of five new regulatory standards, FGN bond issuance for pension liabilities, and the introduction of free health insurance for low-income retirees later this year.
Despite these milestones, Oloworaran admitted challenges remain, including limited compliance by some states and employers, and lingering skepticism shaped by past failures. To address this, PenCom will launch nationwide sensitisation workshops across all six geopolitical zones.
She reaffirmed PenCom’s commitment to expanding coverage, especially in the informal sector, diversifying pension asset investments, and enhancing retiree welfare with health and gratuity buffers.
Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Ekpo Nta, also highlighted pension as central to productivity and stability in the workforce. Represented by the acting Secretary, Chiadi Adighiogu, he traced Nigeria’s pension evolution from the Defined Benefit Scheme of 1951 to the CPS, introduced in 2004 and amended in 2014, which is fully funded and privately managed.
Nta stressed that constitutional provisions and the NSIWC Act mandate periodic pension reviews to safeguard the financial security of retirees, noting that several upward adjustments have already been made in line with this framework.
