The coming of the Director General, National Pension Commission, Ms Omolola Oloworaran was well timed. The Commission up until her coming was evidently becoming an entity that was wearing a garb that was becoming oversized for it. The enormous work required to clear the challenging task of pension administration was not up to the level required to clear the challenges. At all the turns, a new push was required to address these challenges.
Indeed the management admitted that the state of pension required urgent intervention to maintain the momentum it garnered at the onset in 2004 when Pension Reform Act ushered in a new contributory pension scheme. At the pension Revolution Summit held in Lagos on December 18, 2025, to present the 365 Days Scorecard, the top management was clear that a different approach was in place with unmatched results. “Indeed we say that this year apart from the year the pension Act was implemented in 2004, we can without fear of contradiction say this past year has easily been the most remarkable in the annals of contributory pension scheme and all thanks to the remarkable way the DG has led and the leadership the Presidency has continued to provide.”
As the new sheriff of PenCom, one of the challenges that starred her in the face was the huge outstanding pension rights, arrears owed federal Government retirees. The peculiarity of the challenge she admitted at same parley with the Press a year ago was, why not pay the retirees from the contributions in their individual retirement savings account pending when the outstanding at staggering N758bn is paid by the Federal Government; her concern was nipped in the bud by the pension law that made mandatory to pay all the same time. The law did not envisage that the government will renege on the rules they entirely set and should be executed without alteration.
When the FG finally last July 2025 approved the disbursement of N758bn Omolola unadulterated concern to wipe pains off retirees to a very large extent was answered, and for a nation where social welfare are not available providing guaranteed pay to pensions monthly was a big score and a milestone in the last twenty years since the pension Act was implemented.
Loading the results, she said it’s now zero waiting time for payment for payment of accrued rights and this was restored with effect from July 2025. “Meaning you retire you get paid immediately provided you met all documentation requirements. We eliminated this completely. And I am here to tell that this is here to stay. The days of delays in benefits payments to our dear retirees is over.”
In her calibrated response she said, the “unprecedented intervention sent a clear and powerful signal that Nigeria honours its promises to its workers and retirees.” The spread of the intervention the DG responded went beyond accrued rights but all outstanding pension increase backlogs, “We also cleared long outstanding pension increase backlogs for Federal Government funded treasury retirees, some dating as far back as 2007. What many believed would never have been paid has now been paid.”
According to her the mandate given to her at the confirmation of her appointment a year ago was clear: to rebuild trust, expand coverage, strengthen governance and move the CPS firmly into the next phase. She unambiguously believes the lines are falling in pleasant places for her and firmly raises up the banner of support from Mr President. “I am proud to say that this past year has been defined by bold decisions, structured reforms and measurable impact all under the leadership of the President.
Pension The knots of achievements has recorded in several places and more are in the pipeline. These reforms she affirmed, are not cosmetic, they are structural and implemented to stand the tests of time and what would follow continually is upgrade and innovation. On the benefit front, she said “we introduced pension Boost 1.0, which has already added N2.68bn to monthly pension payments for CPS retirees. These are not just numbers. They are meals on tables, medicines purchased, and dignity preserved. This serves as PenCom vent for social security.
Tech improvement is flying high, thereisfull automation of critical pension processes, including the Pension Clearance Certificate system, benefit processing, and contribution remittance platforms. Also positioned as an uptick is operational efficiency, leakages she affirmed has reduced, and transparency has increased. Her pledge, “We will continue to upgrade our systems and application as technology evolves.
Carefully weaving social security into the system where it could be accomodated, penCom inaugurated the Board of Trustees of the PenCare Initiative, a landmark industry-wide intervention to provide free and accessible healthcare for low income retirees. The DG, Oloworaran link to this initiative is the hefty dose of care PenCom is streaming for low income retirees. She firmly and unequivocally said, “Retirement should be a season of peace, not a period defined by anxiety over medical bills.”
Creating a formidable team will be incomplete without the active placement and involvement of the operators. This was what was done. “To strengthen collaboration and leadership across the industry, we established the Pension Industry Leadership Council, a strategic platform that brings together industry leaders to drive innovation, reinforce accountability, and build collective ownership of reforms.”
Still reinforcing leadership and governance, PenCom “strengthened governance regulations to eliminate shadow directorships.” The DG was clear on this> “Let me state this clearly. pensions cannot be managed from the shadows. Transparency, accountability, and fit-and-proper leadership are non-negotiable. A system entrusted with Nigerians life savings must be governed integrity and competence.”
The hallmark of PenCom is sourced from the mandate given to Ms Omolola Oloworaran. This has driven the asset under management to not less than N2.7tr as at November 2025 and still growing. The reforms are not impeding growth, under Pension Revolution 2.0 agenda it has become a process in motion and irreversible assuring that “together we are building a pension system that is inclusive, resilient, transparent and trusted by every single Nigerian.”
