FG Pays Federal Workers’ Pension Rights Up To 2029
By Patience Ikpeme
The Federal Government has paid in advance the pension savings of serving federal workers, covering them up to December 2029. This turns around a debt that once stood at 21 months.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, made the disclosure on Wednesday in her keynote address at the 2026 conference of the Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PenCAN) in Abuja. She was represented by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai.
The Oloworaran said government has moved from owing 21 months of pension contributions to being 41 months ahead. “Forty-one months in surplus means that federal government employees who have not yet retired and who have enrolled have had their accrued pension rights paid up to December 2029.” In simple terms, the retirement savings of these workers are already funded, waiting for the day they retire.
The PenCom boss also said the long wait that retirees used to face has largely ended. “The issue of delays of payment of pension has now become history,” she said, adding that benefits are now paid within 48 hours at most after a worker retires.
Oloworaran’s address pointed to two schemes launched by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday. These are the PenCare health insurance programme and a minimum pension guarantee of ₦52,500.
According to the her, PenCare will cut the medical bills of retirees, so that more of their monthly pension can go to other needs. The scheme is paid for by pension operators and PenCom, and it is run by an independent board of trustees led by the commission’s first Director-General, Muhammad K. Ahmad.
Under the minimum pension guarantee, eligible retirees who now receive less than ₦52,500 a month will have their pensions raised to that level. Oloworaran said some pensioners received payment alerts during Tuesday’s launch.
The PenCom Director-General added that the Federal Government has approved an extra exit benefit equal to 100 per cent of a retiree’s terminal emoluments, starting from January 1, 2026. “The Federal Government has just approved the payment of 100 per cent of terminal emoluments as additional exit benefits,” it said. Eligible 2026 retirees who submitted their documents have already been paid, it added.
The Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Tolulope Odunaiya, was represented by the agency’s Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi. The agency said pensioners under the older Defined Benefits Scheme can now confirm their records from a distance, and it has tightened checks to confirm that pensioners are still alive.
“With the new initiative of this verification without borders, pensioners in the US, in Uganda, in our villages can as well do their verification,” the statement said. It also said sign-up has started for PTAD’s planned health insurance programme, ahead of its formal launch.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro represented by Olajumoke Akinwa, urged that pension assets be invested with care in roads and other infrastructure, housing, energy and other productive sectors, to help Nigeria reach its $1 trillion economy target.
“Properly channelled into infrastructure, housing, energy, and productive sectors, these funds can help finance the growth we seek, while still protecting the retirement benefits of contributors,” she said.
The Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, Tunji Andrews, said the number of details needed to enrol in the Personal Pension Plan has dropped from 25 to four. This makes it easier for traders, artisans and other informal workers to join and save.
“Because of that innovation, we’ve been able to put onboarding and payments for PPP on POS terminals,” he said. The company works with Moniepoint and Interswitch on this.
Mr Andrews said Awabah has also started an initiative called Pension Oga. Its agents will go to markets and communities to register informal workers, collect their contributions and teach people about saving for retirement. He called for more public awareness to bring in more contributors.
The acting Managing Director of NPF Pensions Limited, Mohammed Dutse, who was represented by Chukwuma Ohaka, praised the improvements in pension administration, especially those that help retired police officers. A representative of Citizens Pension Limited, Khayran-Yunusa Aliu, called for wider financial inclusion through more micro-pension participation.
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Godwin Abumisi, also represented by Ahmad Ibrahim-Gazali asked that the new exit benefit also be paid to those who retired between 2004 and December 2025. He said ₦12.3 billion has been released for the exit-benefit programme.
In her welcome address, the President of PenCAN, Nana Musa, urged journalists to report pension matters so that Nigerians can better understand the pension reforms and hold those in charge to account.
