Low Turnout Trails Pension Enrolment
…FG Sets July Deadline for Civil Servants
By Patience Ikpeme
The Federal Government has scaled up its drive to boost participation in the ongoing mandatory verification and enrolment exercise for civil servants with accrued pension rights.
This push follows reports of a lower-than-expected turnout of eligible workers, despite the critical role the exercise plays in securing their future retirement benefits.
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is currently managing the nationwide online verification for active employees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) who joined the service prior to June 30, 2004. The window for this exercise, which opened on February 2, 2026, is scheduled to close on July 31, 2026.
The initiative serves as a core strategy for the Federal Government to address pension obligations originating from the old Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS). This system preceded the 2004 introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). Under Section 15(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, workers who transitioned to the CPS remain entitled to accrued rights, which represent the value of their service during the years of the old scheme.
To ensure these funds are available, the law mandates the maintenance of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund, held at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a circular distributed on April 27, 2026, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, instructed all treasury-funded MDAs to provide full support for the process. “Verification is essential for determining the Federal Government’s outstanding pension liabilities and making adequate budget provisions for their settlement,” the circular stated.
Moving away from the manual, paper-heavy methods of the past, PenCom has introduced a modernized technological framework. The current exercise utilizes the new Contributions and Bond Redemption Application (COBRA), a secure platform engineered for real-time data capture and processing.
The COBRA system incorporates biometric capture and the cross-referencing of employment records to safeguard data integrity. Officials noted that this digital transition aims to eliminate the historical delays and record-keeping errors that often hindered pension payments.
To manage the volume of data and prevent system congestion, PenCom organized the enrolment into two distinct windows: Phase One, Conducted between February 2 and March 31, 2026, targeting employees due for retirement between January 2027 and December 2029; Phase Two, Currently running from April 1 to July 31, 2026, focusing on staff set to retire from January 2030 onwards.
PenCom maintains that this phased approach is designed to foster better coordination and ensure every eligible worker is documented within the established timeline.
With the deadline looming, the Head of Service has issued a directive for strict compliance across all MDAs. The process requires MDAs to upload the specific details of eligible staff onto the COBRA platform. Following this, employees must visit their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) with their documentation to finalize the verification.
Trained Pension Desk Officers (PDOs) have been stationed within various organizations to lead the coordination and offer guidance to staff. “Participating in the exercise will enable the computation of the employees’ accrued pension rights and advise the Federal Government of same for adequate provision to be made,” PenCom stated.
The commission further noted that completion of this process is the only way to ensure “seamless access to benefits immediately after a worker retires.”
Permanent Secretaries and heads of agencies have been urged to give the directive wide publicity. Government officials cautioned that ignoring the exercise could lead to severe complications and delays in accessing retirement funds.
As the July 31 deadline approaches, the focus remains on whether MDAs can successfully mobilize their remaining eligible workforce to bridge the enrolment gap and secure the financial future of public servants.
