FG clears 17-year pension backlog with N758bn bond

•To invest N1trn in infrastructure

From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja and **Henry Uche **

The National Pension Commission has said it cleared inherited pension liabilities accumulated over 17 years, dating back to 2007, with a N758 billion intervention bond.

The development is expected to bring relief to about 957,045 pension beneficiaries whose retirement benefits had been affected by the long-standing liabilities.

The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos, where she said the payment marked the end of a backlog that had been carried through several administrations.

According to her, the federal government had taken the decision to settle the inherited obligations rather than allow them to continue accumulating.

“The federal government cleared all inherited pension liabilities, some dating back to 2007. These obligations passed through multiple administrations, but this government chose to settle them,” she said.

The N758 billion bond was approved by the federal government to address several outstanding pension obligations under the Contributory Pension Scheme and related liabilities.

Earlier breakdowns of the intervention showed that about N388 billion was earmarked to clear outstanding pension increases dating back to 2007, while N253 billion was provided for accrued pension rights of retirees from treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Another N107 billion was allocated to the Pension Protection Fund to support low-income retirees.

PenCom had begun disbursing the bond proceeds before the latest announcement. In December 2025, the commission said more than N600 billion of the N758 billion had already been disbursed to settle outstanding liabilities.

Oloworaran said the latest development was part of wider reforms aimed at making retirement more secure and ensuring that workers do not wait for years before receiving their benefits.

She disclosed that accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 had already been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts following a verification and enrolment exercise.

PenCom has also introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy, designed to ensure that retirees receive their benefits without a long gap between leaving service and receiving pension payments.

The commission said the time required to process pension benefits had been reduced from as much as 21 months to about 48 hours, provided the retiree has completed the required process.

The intervention also comes as the pension industry continues to expand. PenCom said pension assets had risen to N31.48 trillion by 2026, up by more than N10 trillion from N20.79 trillion two years earlier.

Oloworaran said the commission would now focus on preventing fresh pension arrears, improving the welfare of retirees and bringing more workers in the informal sector into the pension system.

Among the planned initiatives is PenCare, a free healthcare support programme that will initially target 30,000 low-income retirees.

PenCom also plans to introduce a statutory Minimum Pension Guarantee and expand the Micro Pension Plan to cover more traders, artisans and other informal-sector workers.

The latest intervention is expected to strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s pension system, particularly among workers who have long feared that their retirement benefits could be delayed or lost after years of service.

Meanwhile, the PenCom boss disclosed plans to invest about N1 trillion in national infrastructure in the coming years, as part of efforts to use pension funds to support economic growth and development.

Oloworaran said PenCom had already invested N241 billion in infrastructure development, adding that the Commission was working towards significantly increasing its infrastructure investments.

She further disclosed that by the first quarter of 2027, about $250 million would be committed as the starting point of a new round of infrastructure investments aimed at supporting economic development.

According to her, the planned investments would form part of PenCom’s broader efforts to ensure that pension assets contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic growth while safeguarding the interests of pension contributors and retirees.

The PenCom boss also announced that the Commission’s PenCare and Minimum Pension Guarantee initiatives would be fully activated in the coming weeks.

She said the initiatives would run alongside activities for the National Pension Week, scheduled for October 26 to 30.

Oloworaran assured Nigerian retirees that the Commission under her leadership would continue to pursue measures aimed at improving their welfare and ensuring that retirement is more dignified and rewarding.

She said, “Our president is the most pro-worker, pro-retiree president we have seen in the history of Nigeria. Our duty at PenCom is to make this permanent through sound regulations, dependable administration and resolve every Nigerian can see.”

On the growth of pension assets, Oloworaran disclosed that the assets under management had risen significantly from N20.79 trillion in July 2024 to N31.4 trillion in July 2026.

She added that the actual figure had risen further since July but that the Commission had deliberately chosen to present a conservative figure.

“As of today, the figure is more than this, but we decided to be modest,” she said.

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