The National Pension Commission (PenCom) plans to add three million funded active Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders to the pension system within the next year, as it works to extend retirement security to more Nigerians.
Director General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, announced the target on Thursday while speaking at the National Pension Summit 2026 in Abuja.
“A pension is not a privilege for the few. It is a right within reach of all,” she said.
Oloworaran said total pension assets have grown from ₦20.79trn in July 2024 to ₦31.8trn in August 2026, an increase of more than ₦11trn, or roughly 53 per cent, in about two years.
She also announced that the President has approved the first ever Exit Benefit for retirees of Federal Government treasury funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). A symbolic cheque was presented at the summit to mark the approval.
Looking ahead, she disclosed that President Bola Tinubu will launch PenCare and the Minimum Pension Guarantee on 10 November.
The PenCom boss also appealed to the private sector to join the Federal Government and the pension industry in funding the Pension Protection Fund.
She urged operators in the industry to deliver competitive real returns above inflation, so that the savings of contributors keep their value over time.
Nigeria’s pension system changed fundamentally with the Pension Reform Act of 2004, which replaced the old defined benefit arrangement, where retirees were paid from government funds as they fell due, with the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Under the old arrangement, many retirees waited years for their benefits, and arrears of unpaid entitlements built up across the public sector.
The 2004 Act also created PenCom to regulate, supervise and ensure the effective administration of pension matters in the country.
Under the CPS, workers and employers make regular contributions into individual RSAs, which are managed by licensed Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and held by Pension Fund Custodians.
The contributions are invested, and the accumulated savings and returns are paid to the worker at retirement.
The Pension Reform Act of 2014 repealed and replaced the 2004 law. It strengthened the legal framework, widened coverage to more employers and made provision for a minimum pension.
In 2019, PenCom introduced the Micro Pension Plan to bring self employed people and workers in the informal sector into the system, where coverage has historically been low.
Despite the growth in pension assets, extending coverage remains one of the industry’s main challenges, as a large share of Nigeria’s working population, particularly in the informal sector, is still outside the contributory system. The new target of three million funded active accounts is aimed at narrowing that gap.
