ANALYSIS: Oloworaran’s Patriotic Mission To Rescue Nigerian Retirees, Pensioners
By Sunday Etuka
Ms Omolara Oloworaran is the Director-General of the National Pension Commission(PenCom) whose firm believe in the emancipation of the distressed Nigerian Retirees and Pensioners is unshakable.
Oloworaran was appointed by President Bola Tinubu over year ago, with a clear mandate: to rebuild trust, expand pension coverage, strengthen governance, and move the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to the next level.
Even though she inherited an uninspiring industry flawed with tall outstanding pension liabilities, fraud, and persistent non-remittance of contributions by employers, she was able to navigate the complexities, and changed the narrative.
Her doggedness and sharp intervention with the backing of the President has paid off, silencing all the naysayers who were hitherto doubting her capacity to make meaning changes.
Within 365 days of her assumption of office, Ms Oloworaran turned around the industry’s quagmire, bringing smiles to millions of pensioners across the country. Indeed, the past one year was defined by bold decisions, structural reforms, and measurable impact.
As a visionary and performer, the DG wasted no time before hitting the ground running with the launch of Pension Revolution 2.0, the most comprehensive reform agenda in the Nigerian pension industry since 2004.
This structural reform brought together new regulations, stronger supervision, governance reforms, digital transformation, and industry realignment, all designed to future- proof the pension system and position it as a pillar ofnational stability and long-term development.
One of the most historic milestones of the year was the Presidential approval and disbursement of ₦758 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities.
Through this strategic intervention, she was able to clear the mountainous long-standing pension backlogs for Federal Government treasury-funded retirees, some dating as far back as 2007.
In addition, she restored the zero-waiting time for the payment of accrued pension rights from July 2025. Today, retirees receive their benefits when due, not months or years later.
To further enhance benefit adequacy, she introduced Pension Boost 1.0, which has already added ₦2.68 billion to monthly pension payments for CPS retirees.
Overwhelmed by the persistent non-remittance of pension contributions by employers, Oloworaran issued a decisive compliance circular in the second quarter of last year, linking Pension Clearance Certificates to participation across thepension industry value chain.
This recorded immediate impact, with total pension recoveries hitting ₦4.04 billion,from January to November 2025, relative to the ₦1.44 billion recorded for thewhole of 2024, representing an increase of over 180 percent.
Most notably, ₦2.06 billion was recovered in the third quarter of 2025 alone, almost150% of total recoveries recorded in the entire year 2024. A similar shift was evident in compliance behaviour.
Prior to the third quarter, Pension Clearance Certificates were issued at a modest quarterly average of about ₦150 billion. However, following the circular, the third quarter recorded issuances of about ₦233 billion, far exceeding the average of preceding quarters. This is a clear demonstration that when compliance is tied to real economic consequences, behaviour changes.
Oloworaran’spush for excellent performance, led her to achieve full automation of critical pension processes, including the Pension Clearance Certificate system, benefit processing, and contribution remittance platforms. This has improved the Commission’s operational efficiency, reduced leakages and increased transparencyin the system.
Her passion for the welfare of pensioners pushed her to also inaugurate the Board of Trustees of the PenCare Initiative, a landmark industry-wide intervention to provide free and accessible healthcare for low income retirees.
She believes that retirement should be a season of peace, not a period defined byanxiety over medical bills.
Also, to strengthen collaboration and leadership across the industry, the Commission,under her leadership established the Pension Industry Leadership Council, astrategic platform that brings together industry leaders to drive innovation, reinforce accountability, and build collective ownership of reforms.
She has also restructured and rebranded the Micro Pension Plan into the PersonalPension Plan to deepen pension penetration. This was designed to meet Nigerians where they are – Artisans, Traders, Gig workers, Creatives, and Informal sectorworkers.
Under the Personal Pension Plan, she was able to simplify onboarding, expand digitalenrolment, and crucially introduced Accredited Pension Agents.
The Accredited Pension Agents are not merely distribution channels. They are an employment strategy, as thousands of young Nigerians are expected to be trained, certified, and deployed as pension professionals, earning livelihoods while expanding pension coverage. This is inclusion with impact. Financial inclusion that creates jobs.
Last year, Oloworaran also took deliberate steps to raise capital requirements for pension operators. This, according to her, was not punitive, but purposeful. Explaining that stronger capital means stronger institutions, better risk management, deeper expertise, and a greater capacity to attract and retain skilled professionals. This is in addition to strengthening governance regulations to eliminate shadow directorships.
She declared that pensions cannot be managed from the shadows, adding that transparency, accountability, and fit-and-proper leadership are non-negotiable.
According to her, a system entrusted with Nigerians’ life savings must be governed by integrity and competence.
Conclusively, these reforms are already professionalising the industry, deepening skills, and raising standards.
