The National Pension Commission has announced that the Federal Government has provided funds for the accrued pension rights of participating federal employees nearing retirement until December 2029, eliminating a prior 21-month funding delay.
The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, revealed this on Wednesday during her keynote speech at the 2026 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria Conference held in Abuja.
Oloworaran, as stated by PenCom’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai, noted that the government transitioned from accumulating owed pension rights for 21 months to having a 41-month funding surplus.
“We are transitioning from a state where our complete pension rights were 21 months behind to our current position of being 41 months ahead.” “And 41 months of surplus indicates that Federal Government employees still working and enrolled have had their pension rights accumulated until December 2029,” she stated.
The progress indicates that the pension rights earned by the impacted federal employees have been pre-funded.
Oloworaran also stated that the delays in pension payments have mostly been resolved, with retirement benefits processed in 48 hours.
“The problem of pension payment delays is now a thing of the past, and pensions are now disbursed within 48 hours at most after retirement,” she stated.
The PenCom leader emphasized the initiation of the PenCare health insurance program and the N52,500 minimum pension guarantee announced by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday.
She clarified that PenCare would lower retirees’ healthcare costs, enabling them to allocate a larger portion of their monthly pensions to other necessities.
She stated that the initiative is financed by pension operators and PenCom, featuring an independent board of trustees led by the commission’s first Director-General, Muhammad Ahmad.
Regarding the minimum pension guarantee, she mentioned that eligible retirees earning below N52,500 will see an increase in their pensions, noting that some beneficiaries got payment notifications during Tuesday’s launch.
Oloworaran also revealed that the Federal Government has sanctioned extra exit benefits amounting to 100 percent of terminal emoluments for qualifying retirees, starting from 1 January 2026.
“The Federal Government has recently authorized the disbursement of 100 percent of terminal emoluments as extra exit benefits,” she noted, mentioning that qualifying retirees from 2026 who provided their documents had been paid.
The Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, representing the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Tolulope Odunaiya, announced that the directorate has implemented remote verification and improved life-status checks for pensioners in the Defined Benefits Scheme.
“Thanks to this new borderless verification initiative, pensioners in the US, Uganda, and our communities can also complete their verification,” she stated.
Odunaiya also revealed that enrollment had started for PTAD’s planned health insurance initiative, prior to its official introduction.
Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro, Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, represented by Olajumoke Akinwa, urged the responsible investment of pension assets into infrastructure, housing, energy, and productive sectors to aid Nigeria in achieving its $1tn economy goal.
“When appropriately directed towards infrastructure, housing, energy, and productive industries, these funds can support the growth we desire, while safeguarding the retirement benefits of contributors,” she stated.
In the same vein, Tunji Andrews, the Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, revealed that the requirements for personal pension enrollment have been simplifiedfrom 25 fields down to four, facilitating registration and contributionsfor Nigerians in the informal sector via Point of Sale terminals through partnerships with Moniepoint and Interswitch.
“Currently, those fields have been decreased to just four fields. Thanks to that innovation, we can now implement onboarding and payments for PPP on POS terminals,” he mentioned.
Andrews stated that Awabah had introduced a program called Pension Oga, which would send agents to markets and communities to enroll informal workers, gather contributions, and inform Nigerians about pension savings, while urging for increased public awareness to enhance involvement in the Personal Pension Plan.
Chukwuma Ohaka, representing the acting Managing Director of NPF Pensions Limited, Mohammed Dutse, praised advancements in pension management, especially initiatives aimed at enhancing the welfare of retired police officers.
Khayran-Yunusa Aliu, a representative from Citizens Pension Limited, advocated for enhanced financial inclusion by increasing participation in micro-pensions.
In the meantime, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, represented by Ahmad Ibrahim-Gazali, called for the new exit benefits to be extended to retirees who exited service from 2004 to December 2025.
