By Ms. Omolola Oloworaran
Early this morning, somewhere in Nigeria, a retired factory worker checked the alert on his phone.
For twenty-one years, that alert read eighteen thousand naira.
This month – as every month now – it read two hundred and six thousand naira.
He did not win a lottery. He was not given anything he had not already earned.
What changed was simple: his country decided to keep its promise.
Today, I want to tell you how that happened – and how it is happening for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians like him.
Exactly two years ago today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu entrusted me with the responsibility of leading the National Pension Commission.
As we all know, elections have consequences.
Sometimes those consequences are measured in policies. Sometimes they are measured in numbers.
But ultimately, they are measured in the lives of people.
A few weeks ago, in an opinion article reflecting on the President’s new exit-benefit scheme, I made an observation.
I wrote that a compelling case was emerging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may well prove to be one of the most pro-worker, pro-retiree Presidents in Nigeria’s history.
At the time, I described that case as emerging.
Today, standing before you with twenty-four months of evidence, I can say: that case is no longer emerging. It is on the record.
Because history is rarely defined by one decision.
It is defined by a pattern of decisions. Consider the pattern:
A historic ₦758 billion intervention resolving pension obligations stretching back almost two decades.
A landmark Pension Boost that raised monthly pensions for retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The first review of NSITF pensions in twenty-one years – with some pensioners receiving increases of more than one thousand percent.
A new End-of-Service Benefits Scheme for retiring employees of treasury-funded MDAs.
The Minimum Pension Guarantee. And PenCare – because retirement security must include healthcare.
Each of these decisions is significant on its own.
Taken together, they reveal an administration that understands a simple truth: the dignity of work must be matched by dignity in retirement.
That has been our mission. And today I will tell its story in three acts.
The first: delivering on the promise. The second: righting historical wrongs. The third: building the future.
This is not simply the story of PenCom. It is the story of a nation strengthening the promise it makes to every hardworking Nigerian.
ACT ONE – DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE
Delivering on President Tinubu’s commitment to Nigerian workers.
ACT ONE DIVIDER
Every successful pension system on earth is built on a single foundation: confidence.
Confidence that contributions are safe. Confidence that institutions work. Confidence that after decades of honest labour, retirement will bring security – not uncertainty.
Two years ago, that confidence needed restoring. Today, the verdict is in.
CONFIDENCE IS BACK
Pension assets have grown from ₦20.79 trillion to ₦31.48 trillion – more than ₦10.7 trillion in new retirement wealth, a fifty-one percent increase, in just two years.
Let me say plainly what those numbers mean: confidence is back.
MORE NIGERIANS PROTECTED
And the system is growing. Over 900,000 new contributors have joined the scheme – 938,229 more Nigerians who now have retirement security. And this is only the beginning.
PENSION BOOST 1.0
But confidence means little if it does not reach people’s pockets. So, our first priority was simple: put more money in retirees’ pockets.
Through Pension Boost 1.0, aggregate monthly pension payouts rose by twenty-two percent – from ₦12.2 billion to ₦14.9 billion, every single month.
For thousands of families, that was not an adjustment on a payslip. It was renewed hope.
▸ SLIDE 6 – ₦32,000 CONSEQUENTIAL ADJUSTMENT
And when the new national minimum wage raised the floor for workers, this administration made sure pensioners were not left behind.
A ₦32,000 monthly consequential adjustment was added to the pension of every eligible retiree of treasury-funded MDAs who retired on or before the 29th of July, 2024 – more than one hundred thousand pensioners.
NSITF: RESTORING DIGNITY
Nowhere is this more visible than in the story I opened with.
For twenty-one years – twenty-one years – NSITF pensioners waited for a review, on pensions anchored to the minimum wage of the year 2000.
Today, that retiree who received ₦18,000 a month receives ₦206,000 – an increase of more than one thousand percent, with his arrears paid in full.
Behind every percentage is a human being. A family. A life restored.
THREE RAISES. ONE RECORD.
Now, add it together. A twenty-two percent boost. A ₦32,000 monthly adjustment. The first NSITF review in twenty-one years.
Three raises in twenty-four months – taken together, the most money in the hands of pensioners in the history of the Contributory Pension Scheme.
FASTER PAYMENTS
We also transformed the experience of retirement itself.
Benefits that once took months are now approved within forty-eight hours – not as a target, but as a mandate binding every Pension Fund Administrator.
PROTECTING EVERY WORKER’S PENSION
At the same time, we strengthened enforcement – because every worker deserves absolute confidence that every naira deducted from a salary reaches a Retirement Savings Account.
Compliance has risen by twenty-eight percent. And recoveries of unremitted contributions have significantly increased: over thirty-six billion naira recovered in the last two years, against twenty-eight billion in all the years before.
Mandatory pension clearance now runs across the entire ecosystem. The EFCC and the ICPC stand with us. And a Presidential Executive Order to deepen compliance is on its way.
RETIREMENT SECURITY BEYOND INCOME
And because retirement security is bigger than a monthly cheque, within the next three months we will deliver two promises at once.
The Minimum Pension Guarantee – a guaranteed income floor beneath every pensioner. And PenCare – free healthcare for our most vulnerable retirees.
Because no Nigerian should retire into poverty. And no Nigerian should retire into ill health.
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
We close this first act where the future has already arrived.
Every pension service – from first enrolment to final payout – is now fully digital. Simplified onboarding. Automated remittance. Clearance certificates online.
Because government should make life easier – not harder.
ACT TWO – RIGHTING HISTORICAL WRONGS
Honouring long-standing commitments through decisive leadership.
ACT TWO DIVIDER
Ladies and gentlemen, some challenges can be managed. Others must simply be resolved.
For nearly two decades, pension obligations accumulated. Retirees waited. Families waited. Hope faded.
Governments changed. Administrations changed. But the obligation remained.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made a different choice. He chose to end that chapter.
THE ₦758 BILLION BOND
The ₦758 billion Federal Government Pension Bond is one of the most consequential pension interventions in our nation’s history.
It settled obligations dating back to 2007. It reached 957,045 Nigerians. And it achieved something no balance sheet can capture: TRUST.
It restored the belief that government keeps its word.
FROM ARREARS TO SURPLUS
Because of that intervention, accrued pension rights have moved from twenty-one months in arrears to a forty-one-month surplus.
That is not an incremental improvement. That is a complete reversal.
HONOURING A LIFETIME OF SERVICE
And we went further. The new End-of-Service Benefits Scheme grants retiring employees of treasury-funded MDAs one hundred percent of their annual emoluments.
Because after decades of public service, retirement should be marked with gratitude – not anxiety.
This is about more than pensions. It is about honouring service. Honouring sacrifice. Honouring those who devoted their lives to building our country.
ACT THREE – BUILDING THE FUTURE
The next frontier of pension reform.
ACT THREE DIVIDER
We are proud of what has been achieved. But our greatest responsibility is to the future.
– THE PERSONAL PENSION PLAN
Millions of hardworking Nigerians still stand outside the formal pension system – the market woman, the artisan, the transport worker, the farmer.
The Personal Pension Plan takes the system to them: flexible contributions, digital onboarding, a pension for every kind of work.
No worker should be left behind simply because of where they work.
ACCREDITED PENSION AGENTS
And to reach them, we are building something this country has never had before: a pension distribution industry.
Accredited Pension Agents – thousands of jobs, in every community, taking retirement security to every corner of Nigeria.
This is not only about coverage. It is about creating jobs. Creating entrepreneurship. Creating opportunity.
FINANCING NIGERIA’S FUTURE
At the same time, we are positioning pension funds to finance Nigeria’s future.
We are exploring new investment frameworks to channel long-term pension capital into bankable projects – Roads. Ports. Power. Healthcare. Education. Agriculture.
The most patient capital in Nigeria, put to work on Nigeria’s most enduring needs – protecting contributors’ savings and ensuring sustainable, competitive real returns.
– PENSION REVOLUTION 2.0
This is what Pension Revolution 2.0 is about: jobs, inclusion, infrastructure, and retirement security – enabled by technology, disciplined investment, and strong governance.
This is not simply pension reform. It is nation-building through pension reform.
CONCLUSION
BEHIND EVERY NUMBER (pause on this slide)
Ladies and gentlemen, before I give you the final numbers, I ask you to hold one image in your mind.
Picture a teacher. A nurse. A soldier. A civil servant. A market woman.
Behind every number in this briefing is a life of service. That is what pension reform is for.
FINALE
Exactly two years ago, this administration began a journey. Today, the evidence is before you.
More contributors. Higher pensions. Faster service. Stronger compliance. Historic interventions. Greater retirement security. And a clearer vision for the future.
When I wrote, a few weeks ago, that a compelling case was emerging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may become one of the most pro-worker, pro-retiree Presidents in Nigeria’s history – it was an observation.
Today, on this record, I believe the case has been made.
Because leadership is ultimately judged not by promises made, but by lives changed.
Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, pension reform has moved beyond administration.
It has become an instrument of justice. An instrument of dignity. An instrument of economic opportunity. An instrument of national development.
And above all – an instrument of renewed hope.
We are restoring dignity to those who built our nation.
Creating opportunity for those building it today.
And securing the future for those who will build it tomorrow.
Thank you – and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
*Being presentation and text of briefing by Director-General of National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran
