The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has pushed back the deadline for civil servants to complete a mandatory pension verification exercise, giving eligible workers until 31 December 2026 to enrol.
The One-Time Online Verification and Enrolment Exercise, originally set to close on 31 July 2026, targets employees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who are entitled to accrued pension rights.
PenCom, in a statement on Tuesday, said the extension came after multiple requests from MDAs seeking more time for their staff to complete the online process, which began in February 2026.
The commission pointed to weak turnout as the main driver behind the extension. As of July 2026, MDAs had uploaded 62,320 records of active employees and retirees, but only 31,099 employees had finished the enrolment, well below the roughly 150,000 active federal employees believed to qualify for accrued pension rights.
The exercise forms part of a broader government effort to settle pension liabilities left over from the old Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), which predates the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) introduced in 2004.
Under Section 15(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, employees who moved to the CPS remain entitled to the pension and gratuity benefits they had earned under the DBS between their first appointment and 30 June 2004, determined through an actuarial valuation.
A 27 April 2026 circular from the Head of Civil Service of the Federation had already directed treasury-funded MDAs to ensure their eligible staff completed the process.
Enrolment is carried out entirely online through PenCom’s Contributions and Bond Redemption Application (COBRA), a platform built to capture, validate and process employee data. MDAs upload the records of eligible staff, who then visit their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) with supporting documents to finalize enrolment.
Trained Pension Desk Officers (PDOs) coordinate the process within each agency and guide employees through the steps.
Completing enrolment early allows the government to determine outstanding liabilities, budget for them, and credit the resulting funds into employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts, where they can begin earning investment returns ahead of retirement.
Despite the extended timeline, PenCom urged employees and their MDAs not to wait until the new deadline, calling on all who were in service as of 30 June 2004 to complete the exercise as soon as possible.
