The Federal Government has cleared its outstanding pension obligations to enrolled federal workers, with their accrued retirement benefits now funded up to December 2029, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced.
PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering her keynote address at the 2026 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria Conference in Abuja.
The development represents a major improvement in the government’s pension funding, moving from a 21-month arrears position to a 41-month surplus.
Oloworaran, who was represented by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai, explained that the latest development means the accrued pension rights of enrolled federal workers who are yet to retire have been funded up to December 2029.
She said: “We are moving from a position where we had, where our full pension rights were 21 months in arrears, to where we are today, 41 months in surplus.
“And 41 months in surplus means that Federal Government employees who have not yet retired and who have enrolled have had their accrued pension rights paid up to December 2029.”
The PenCom boss also disclosed that delays in pension payments had largely become a thing of the past, noting that retirees now receive their benefits within 48 hours of retirement.
She highlighted other developments in the pension sector, including the launch of the PenCare health insurance programme and the ₦52,500 minimum pension guarantee introduced by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday.
According to her, PenCare is designed to reduce retirees’ medical expenses, enabling them to spend more of their monthly pension payments on other essential needs.
She explained that the programme was being funded by pension operators and PenCom, with an independent board of trustees chaired by the commission’s pioneer Director-General, Muhammad Ahmad.
On the minimum pension guarantee, Oloworaran said eligible retirees currently receiving less than ₦52,500 monthly would have their payments increased to the approved minimum amount.
She added that some beneficiaries had already received payment alerts following Tuesday’s launch.
The PenCom Director-General further revealed that the Federal Government had approved additional exit benefits equivalent to 100 per cent of terminal emoluments for eligible retirees, effective January 1, 2026.
She said some retirees who left service in 2026 and submitted the required documents had already received their payments.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Tolulope Odunaiya, disclosed that the agency had introduced remote verification to ease the process for pensioners under the Defined Benefits Scheme.
Odunaiya, who was represented by PTAD’s Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, explained that the initiative would enable pensioners living in different parts of the world to complete their verification without travelling to Nigeria.
She said: “With the new initiative of this verification without borders, pensioners in the US, in Uganda, in our villages can as well do their verification.”
She also announced that registration had commenced for PTAD’s proposed health insurance programme ahead of its official launch.
In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro, called for increased investment of pension funds in critical sectors of the economy.
Represented by Olajumoke Akinwa, she said pension assets could contribute significantly to Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy if properly invested in infrastructure, housing, energy and other productive sectors.
However, she stressed that such investments must be handled responsibly to safeguard workers’ retirement savings.
“Properly channelled into infrastructure, housing, energy, and productive sectors, these funds can help finance the growth we seek, while still protecting the retirement benefits of contributors,” she said.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, Tunji Andrews, announced that the registration requirements for the Personal Pension Plan (PPP) had been reduced from 25 fields to just four.
He said the adjustment was aimed at simplifying pension registration, particularly for Nigerians working in the informal sector.
Andrews added that the company had introduced pension registration and contribution payments through Point of Sale (POS) terminals in partnership with Moniepoint and Interswitch.
He said: “As of today, those fields have been reduced to four fields only. Because of that innovation, we’ve been able to put onboarding and payments for PPP on POS terminals.”
Andrews also announced a new initiative known as Pension Oga, which would deploy agents to markets and communities to register informal sector workers, collect their contributions and educate them on the importance of retirement savings.
He called for increased public awareness to encourage more Nigerians to participate in the Personal Pension Plan.
Similarly, the Acting Managing Director of NPF Pensions Limited, Mohammed Dutse, represented by Chukwuma Ohaka, commended improvements in pension administration, particularly efforts to improve the welfare of retired police officers.
A representative of Citizens Pension Limited, Khayran-Yunusa Aliu, also advocated greater financial inclusion through increased participation in the micro-pension scheme.
However, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, appealed to the Federal Government to extend the newly approved additional exit benefits to retirees who left service between 2004 and December 2025.
Abumisi, who was represented by Ahmad Ibrahim-Gazali, argued that those who retired before January 2026 should also be considered under the new arrangement.
