The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Ms Omolola Oloworaran, says pension benefit approvals, which previously took up to 21 months, are now processed within 48 hours under reforms aimed at strengthening retirement security and expanding pension coverage nationwide.
Speaking at the State House Meet the Press briefing in Abuja, themed “Two Years: Historic Pension Transformation – Transforming Retirement Security, Strengthening Nigeria”, Oloworaran said the 48-hour pension approval timeline had become a mandatory service standard binding on all Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), rather than merely a performance target.
The PenCom boss disclosed that compliance with pension remittances had risen by 28 per cent, while recoveries of unremitted pension contributions increased significantly, with more than ₦36 billion recovered in the last two years compared to ₦28 billion recovered in all previous years combined.
“Benefits that once took months are now approved within forty-eight hours, not as a target, but as a mandate binding every Pension Fund Administrator. Compliance has risen by twenty-eight per cent, and recoveries of unremitted contributions have significantly increased, with over thirty-six billion naira recovered in the last two years against twenty-eight billion naira recovered in all the years before,” she said.
She also announced that within the next three months, the commission would introduce two major initiatives, the Minimum Pension Guarantee and PenCare, to strengthen social protection for retirees.
“The Minimum Pension Guarantee will provide a guaranteed income floor beneath every pensioner, while PenCare will offer free healthcare for our most vulnerable retirees. No Nigerian should retire into poverty, and no Nigerian should retire into ill health,” Oloworaran stated.
She described the ₦758 billion Federal Government Pension Bond as one of the most significant pension interventions in the country’s history, saying it cleared pension obligations dating back to 2007 and benefited 957,045 Nigerians.
The intervention, she noted, moved accrued pension rights from 21 months in arrears to a 41-month surplus, ending years of delays experienced by retirees.
“For nearly two decades, pension obligations accumulated. Retirees waited. Families waited. Hope faded. Governments changed. Administrations changed. But the obligation remained. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made a different choice. He chose to end that chapter,” she said.
Oloworaran said the commission was establishing a nationwide pension distribution industry through Accredited Pension Agents, a move aimed at deepening pension coverage while creating thousands of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities across communities.
She added that PenCom was also developing new investment frameworks to channel long-term pension assets into bankable infrastructure projects, including roads, ports, power, healthcare, education and agriculture, while safeguarding contributors’ funds and ensuring sustainable returns.
Highlighting the sector’s performance over the past two years, the PenCom Director-General said pension assets had increased from ₦20.79 trillion to ₦31.48 trillion, representing growth of more than ₦10.7 trillion, or 51 per cent.
She said the growth reflected renewed confidence in the pension system, with 938,229 additional Nigerians joining the Contributory Pension Scheme during the period.
“Pension assets have grown from ₦20.79 trillion to ₦31.48 trillion—more than ₦10.7 trillion in new retirement wealth, a fifty-one per cent increase in just two years. Let me say plainly what those numbers mean: confidence is back. The system is growing. Over 900,000 new contributors have joined the scheme—938,229 more Nigerians who now have retirement security. And this is only the beginning,” she said.
Oloworaran described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as one of the most pro-worker and pro-retiree Presidents in Nigeria’s history, saying his administration’s pension reforms had transformed retirement security and improved the lives of millions of Nigerians.
“Leadership is ultimately judged not by promises made, but by lives changed. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, pension reform has moved beyond administration. It has become an instrument of justice, an instrument of dignity, an instrument of economic opportunity and an instrument of national development,” she added.
