…pension commission recovered ₦4.04 billion from defaulting employers between January and November 2025
ABUJA, NIGERIA- The iNews Times | The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has paid out more than ₦577 billion to retirees and pension contributors from a ₦758 billion intervention fund aimed at clearing long-standing pension liabilities.
PenCom’s Director-General, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, made the disclosure on Tuesday at the 2025 Pension Revolution Summit in Abuja.
According to her, the payments have directly benefited about 1,053,000 Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs), making the exercise one of the largest pension interventions ever undertaken in Nigeria.
Oloworaran also disclosed that the commission recovered ₦4.04 billion from defaulting employers between January and November 2025, a sharp rise from the ₦1.44 billion recovered throughout 2024, representing a 118 per cent increase. She noted that ₦2.06 billion was recovered in the third quarter alone equal to the total amount recovered in the entire previous year.
She attributed the surge in recoveries to tougher enforcement measures, including making pension compliance certificates mandatory for participation in transactions across the pension value chain. “In effect, without a pension federal certificate, employers cannot transact with custodians, operators, or financial institutions,” she explained.
Breaking down the intervention, Oloworaran said ₦387 billion was approved for pension increases, with ₦362.74 billion already paid, while ₦107 billion was allocated to address the Federal Government’s 2.5 per cent contribution shortfall for the period 2017–2021, benefiting about 750,223 RSAs. She added that other payments, including those for university professors and special retirees, are being processed in batches.
The DG stressed that the initiatives are part of the broader Pension Revolution 2.0 agenda, which also includes Pension Boost 1.0—an intervention that has added ₦2.6 billion to monthly pension payments since June 2025.
“These are not just figures. They translate into food on tables, access to medication, settled debts, and preserved dignity,” she said, adding that retirement should be a period of peace and stability, not one marked by anxiety over medical expenses.
