The Director General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran has stated that the ongoing pension reforms have improved the welfare of retirees and led to pension asset boost which now stands at N31.4 trillion.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 2026 PenCom Conference for journalists in Abuja, Oloworaran said the theme of conference “Reform to Reality” is reflecting on retirees.

The DG said for the first time under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) retirees received across board increases through Pension Boost 1.0 which raised monthly pensions for more than 241,000 retirees from N12.15 billion to N14.83 billion, with some low level retirees seeing up to 100 percent increase.

“The Federal Government has cleared pension liabilities inherited since 2007 after President Tinubu approved N758 billion intervention, with payments reaching 957,000 beneficiaries.

“Other milestones listed include zero waiting time policy where federal retirees now receive pensions immediately after retirement and accrued rights credited up to December 2029 through verification exercise, approval of retirement benefits now in 48 hours against former 21 months and introduction of exit benefits scheme since January 1, 2026 where eligible Treasury funded MDAs’ employees with at least 10-year service receive 100 per cent of total annual emolument on top of normal pension,” she said.

Oloworaran disclosed that the first set of 175 retirees received about N1.1 billion in August under the exit scheme.

She said PenCom has also built a national distribution framework for the informal sector through accredited pension agents and announced that two more historic programmes will be launched during National Pension Week from October 26 to 30, 2026.

The programmes are PenCare, retiree health programme to give 30,000 low income retirees free health care at start and minimum pension guarantee to set floor below which no eligible CPS retiree will fall.

She also said pension assets rose from N20.7 trillion in July 2024 to N31.48 trillion in June 2026 representing over N10.7 trillion new retirement wealth while 938,229 Nigerians joined the scheme within the period.

She warned employers that deduction of pension without remittance is a breach of law, noting that cumulative recoveries from defaulting employers now stand at N36.6 billion as of July 2026.

She also said the Pension Industry Leadership Council approved an independent assessment of industry maturity and endorsed the first $250 million pension industry infrastructure fund with $200 million from operators and $15 million from government finance institutions. (Daily Trust)