FG clears 17-year pension backlog with N758bn intervention bond

The Federal Government has cleared inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007 through a N758 billion intervention bond, providing financial relief to 957,045 beneficiaries across the country.

The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday during the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos.

Speaking in her keynote address titled “From Reform to Reality: Renewed Hope, Pension Security for All Nigerians,” Oloworaran said the settlement marked a major step towards ending years of accumulated pension obligations inherited across successive administrations.

Ending years of inherited pension debts

According to her, the outstanding obligations had remained unpaid for years, leaving many retirees and beneficiaries waiting for their entitlements.

She said the Federal Government had now cleared all inherited pension liabilities, including some that had accumulated since 2007, describing the settlement as a fulfilment of the country’s obligation to workers who served faithfully.

Oloworaran said, “The Federal Government cleared all inherited pension liabilities, some dating back to 2007. These obligations passed through multiple administrations, but this government chose to settle them.”

She added that every government had a responsibility to honour its commitment to workers after their years of service, stressing that pension security should be treated as a fundamental part of worker welfare.

Preventing future pension backlogs

As part of efforts to prevent the accumulation of fresh pension liabilities, PenCom said accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 had already been credited directly to their Retirement Savings Accounts.

The commission said the advance credit followed a comprehensive one-time verification and enrolment exercise aimed at ensuring that workers approaching retirement would not face prolonged delays in accessing their benefits.

PenCom also introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy designed to align retirement benefit payments with monthly public service salary cycles.

The policy is intended to ensure that workers transitioning from active service to retirement do not experience unnecessary financial gaps while waiting for their pension benefits to be processed.

According to the commission, the processing time for pension benefits has also been significantly reduced, from as long as 21 months to 48 hours.

Higher payments for retirees

The conference also highlighted reforms and financial interventions aimed at improving payments under existing pension schemes.

PenCom disclosed that a directive invoking statutory provisions had led to a review of payments to retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.

The 21-year review resulted in an average 1,173 per cent increase in payments for 2,116 NSITF retirees, while N8.7 billion in full arrears was also settled.

The commission further said Pension Boost 1.0 had increased monthly disbursements under the Contributory Pension Scheme from N12.15 billion to N14.83 billion.

The increase, according to PenCom, directly benefited more than 241,000 retirees across the country by raising the monthly pension payments available to them.

New welfare initiatives unveiled

Oloworaran said the reforms were part of broader institutional changes being implemented under the administration of President Bola Tinubu to strengthen pension security and improve the welfare of retirees.

She stressed that the true measure of a government’s commitment to its workforce should not be limited to how workers are treated while in active service, but should also include how faithfully their pension obligations are fulfilled after retirement.

PenCom also announced plans to introduce additional welfare measures, including the PenCare free healthcare support programme, which will initially target 30,000 low-income retirees.

The commission said it would also activate a statutory Minimum Pension Guarantee baseline to provide an additional layer of protection for retirees.

In addition, PenCom plans to expand the Micro Pension Plan to cover more people in the informal sector, including traders and artisans, through a nationwide agent network.

The commission said the measures were designed to strengthen the pension system, improve retirees’ access to benefits and ensure that pension obligations are settled more efficiently in the future.