Nigeria’s pension framework has been running on legislation that nobody has touched since 2014. That changes now. The National Pension Commission has formally launched a review of the Pension Reform Act, and its Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, made clear on Tuesday that the status quo is no longer defensible.
Oloworaran announced the move at a press conference in Abuja following the third quarterly meeting of the Pension Industry Leadership Council at Fraser Suites. The gathering brought together heads of Pension Fund Administrators, Pension Fund Custodians, Closed Pension Fund Administrators and the Commission itself — the full weight of the industry in one room, setting priorities for reform.
The case for change, in Oloworaran’s own words, was straightforward: “Things continue to change, and we continue to come up with reform ideas that improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians who are part of the scheme.” She also acknowledged, without dressing it up, that the existing Act had produced implementation gaps that the revised legislation would need to correct. She declined to detail the specific amendments under consideration, citing ongoing stakeholder consultations, but was unambiguous that every proposed change was aimed at benefiting contributors and retirees rather than the institutions that manage their money.
The legislative review sits at the centre of a broader push. The council also deliberated on advancing the proposed Pension Industry Infrastructure Fund, which Oloworaran said had reached an advanced stage, and on introducing a liability-driven investment framework designed to produce stronger retirement outcomes. Both measures signal an industry trying to grow beyond its current boundaries and compete seriously within Nigeria’s capital markets.
Public engagement is also on the agenda. PenCom announced its first National Pension Week, scheduled for 15 to 19 September, intended to raise awareness among Nigerians who remain either ignorant of or indifferent to the scheme. That indifference has cost the commission dearly on at least one front: its drive to enrol women under the Personal Pension Plan has fallen embarrassingly short. “I was hoping that we would get one million women on board, but we haven’t even gotten close to that,” Oloworaran said plainly. The commission is now reaching directly into market women’s associations and transport unions to pull informal sector workers into the net.
Compliance is another stubborn problem. Employers who pocket workers’ pension contributions without remitting them will face stiffer enforcement, Oloworaran warned. PenCom already works with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and is set to bring the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on board shortly — a signal that the days of quiet non-compliance may be running out.
The state-level picture is equally sobering. Only eight states have fully implemented the Contributory Pension Scheme, with two others reportedly close. Meanwhile, the pilot health insurance scheme for retirees has attracted roughly 13,000 participants against a target of 30,000. To widen access, PenCom has temporarily raised the eligibility threshold for that scheme from a monthly pension of N70,000 to N150,000, bringing more retirees within reach of the programme.
The reforms are overdue, the gaps are real, and the numbers speak for themselves. Whether PenCom can now translate legislative ambition into measurable outcomes for the millions of Nigerians depending on this system is the only question that truly matters.