FG Clears Pension Backlog, Funds Benefits Till 2029

The Federal Government has cleared its backlog of accrued pension rights for enrolled federal employees, with funding now extending to December 2029, according to the National Pension Commission.

The development marks a turnaround from a previous 21-month funding shortfall to a 41-month surplus, PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Wednesday.

She made the announcement in Abuja during the 2026 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria Conference, where she was represented by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai.

Oloworaran explained that the funding position means the accrued pension rights of enrolled federal workers who are yet to retire have been covered 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 chief also said the commission had addressed delays in the payment of retirement benefits, adding that retirees now receive their pensions within 48 hours of leaving service.

According to her, the long-standing challenge of delayed pension payments has largely been resolved, with the processing period reduced to a maximum of two days after retirement.

She also highlighted two recent pension initiatives unveiled by President Bola Tinubu: the PenCare health insurance programme and a N52,500 minimum pension guarantee.

Oloworaran said PenCare was designed to ease the healthcare expenses of retirees, enabling them to use a larger portion of their monthly pensions to meet other living costs.

She explained that the programme would be financed by pension operators and PenCom, with an independent board of trustees overseeing its operations.

The board is chaired by the commission’s pioneer Director General, Muhammad Ahmad.

On the minimum pension guarantee, she said eligible retirees whose monthly payments fall below N52,500 would have their benefits raised to the new threshold.

Some beneficiaries, she added, had already received payment alerts during the programme’s launch on Tuesday.

The PenCom director general further announced that the Federal Government had approved an additional exit benefit equivalent to 100 per cent of terminal emoluments for eligible retirees, with the policy taking effect from January 1, 2026.

She disclosed that retirees who left service in 2026 and had submitted the required documentation had begun receiving payments under the arrangement.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Tolulope Odunaiya, said the agency had introduced remote pensioner verification and stronger life-status checks for beneficiaries under the Defined Benefits Scheme.

Odunaiya, who was represented by PTAD’s Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, said the new system would allow pensioners to complete verification exercises regardless of their location, including those living outside Nigeria.

She also announced that registration had started for the directorate’s proposed health insurance scheme ahead of its official launch.

In a separate address, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro, called for pension assets to be invested responsibly in sectors capable of driving economic growth.

Represented by Olajumoke Akinwa, she identified infrastructure, housing, energy and other productive areas as potential investment destinations, while stressing the need to protect contributors’ retirement savings.

She said pension funds, if properly deployed, could provide financing for the country’s ambition of building a $1tn economy without compromising the security of retirement benefits.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, Tunji Andrews, announced that the requirements for enrolling in the Personal Pension Plan had been reduced from 25 information fields to four.

Andrews said the simplified process would make it easier for Nigerians working in the informal sector to join the scheme and make contributions through Point of Sale terminals.

He explained that the company had partnered with Moniepoint and Interswitch to facilitate pension registration and payments through POS channels.

Andrews also unveiled an initiative called Pension Oga, which would deploy agents to markets and communities to register informal workers, receive their contributions and educate them on the importance of retirement savings.

He urged stakeholders to intensify public awareness campaigns to encourage more Nigerians, particularly those outside formal employment, to participate in the pension system.

The acting Managing Director of NPF Pensions Limited, Mohammed Dutse, represented by Chukwuma Ohaka, also praised ongoing improvements in pension administration, particularly measures aimed at improving the welfare of retired police officers.

Similarly, a representative of Citizens Pension Limited, Khayran Yunusa Aliu, advocated broader financial inclusion through increased participation in the micro-pension scheme.

However, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, called on the Federal Government to extend the newly approved exit benefits to workers who retired between 2004 and December 2025.

Abumisi, who was represented by Ahmad Ibrahim Gazali, also disclosed that N12.3bn had been released for the exit-benefit programme.

Earlier, the President of the Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Nana Musa, urged journalists to promote accountability and improve public understanding of pension reforms through accurate and responsible reporting.