By Bassey Udo
The ongoing reforms in the Contributory Pension Scheme in the last one year are not cosmetic, but structural initiatives with measured impact, the Director General (DG), National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, said on Tuesday.
Oloworaran, who spoke at the Pension Revolution Summit and the 2025 Media Conference in Abuja, said the unveiling of Pension Revolution 2.0 since she assumed office has lived up to its billing as the most comprehensive reform agenda in the Nigerian pension industry since 2004.
The DG, who used the forum to review her achievements at the end of her first year in office, said that at her inception, the National Pension Commission had the mandate to rebuild trust, expand coverage, strengthen governance, and move the CPS firmly into its next phase.
Speaking on the theme, “A 365-Day Scorecard”, the DG declared: “I am proud to say that this past year has been defined by bold decisions, structural reforms, and measurable impact.”
“This was not cosmetic reform. It was structural. It brought together new regulations, stronger supervision, governance reforms, digital transformation, and industry realignment, all designed to future-proof the pension system and position it as a pillar of national stability and long-term development,” she added.
She said one of the most historic milestones of the year was the Presidential approval and disbursement of about ₦758 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities across the country.
This unprecedented intervention, she noted, sent a clear and powerful signal that Nigeria honours its promises to its workers and retirees.
Besides, she said long-standing pension increase backlogs for Federal
Government treasury-funded retirees, some dating as far back as
2007, were cleared, while zero waiting time for the payment of accrued pension
rights was restored, with effect from July 2025.
Today, she said, retirees receive their benefits as and when due, not months or years later.
Also, to further enhance benefit adequacy, Oloworaran said the Commission introduced Pension Boost 1.0, which has already added ₦2.68 billion to monthly pension payments for CPS retirees.
On the technology front, Oloworaran, who is also fondly nicknames “the digital DG” by her staff and pensioners, said PENCOM under her leadership achieved full automation of critical pension processes, including the Pension Clearance Certificate system, benefit processing, and contribution remittance platforms.
With the automated system, she said operational efficiency of the Commission has significantly improved, resulting in reduction in leakages, while increasing
transparency.
Assuring of continued systems
and application upgrades as technology evolves, the DG disclosed that the Board of Trustees of the PenCare Initiative was inaugurated to provide free and accessible healthcare for low income retirees nationwide.
To strengthen collaboration and leadership across the industry, she said the Pension Industry Leadership Council was established as a strategic
platform that brings together industry leaders to drive innovation,
reinforce accountability, and build collective ownership of reforms.
Besides, she said during the year, the Micro-Pension Plan was restructured and rebranded into the Personal Pension Plan, to meet the needs of some categories of Nigerians, like artisans, traders, gig workers, creatives, and informal sector workers.
Under the Personal Pension Plan, she said the onboarding processes were simplified and digital enrolment expanded, while accredited pension agents were introduced.
The pension agents, she explained, were adopted as an employment strategy for thousands of young Nigerians to be trained, certified, and deployed as pension professionals, earning livelihoods, while expanding pension
coverage.
On governance and industry structure, Oloworaran said during the year, steps were taken to raise capital requirements for pension operators, not as punitive measure, but deliberately to build stronger institutions with better risk management, deeper expertise, and greater capacity to attract and retain skilled professionals.
Strengthened governance regulations, she pointed out, was to eliminate shadow directorships, adding that Commission believes pensions cannot be managed from the shadows, rather with transparency, accountability, and fit-and-proper leadership.
A system entrusted with Nigerians’ life
savings, she insisted, must be governed by integrity and competence, adding that the reforms were already professionalising the industry, deepening skills, and raising standards.
On the issue of persistent
non-remittance of pension contributions by employers, the PENCOM boss said a decisive step was taken during the year to enforce compliance, by linking Pension Clearance Certificates to
participation across the pension industry value chain.
Between January and November 2025, she disclosed that total pension recoveries reached ₦4.04 billion, over 180 percent increase, compared to ₦1.44 billion for the whole of 2024.
The most remarkable of all the recoveries, she said, was about ₦2.06 billion recovered in the third quarter of 2025 alone, almost 150 percent of total recoveries recorded in the entire year 2024.
Again, prior to the third quarter of 2025, the DG said Pension Clearance Certificates were issued at a modest quarterly average of about ₦150 billion, adding that following the circular, the third quarter recorded issuances of about ₦233 billion, far exceeding
the average of preceding quarters.
As the Commission looks forward to the next phase of the Pension Revolution, the DG said the focus remains clear: to expand coverage, deepen trust, improve investment outcomes, strengthen supervision, and protect retirees.
