The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has paid 18-month outstanding pension accrued rights of former federal government employees, bringing relief for retirees and their families.
The recent payment, which reduced the 21- month backlog to three at the end of March 2025, brings total accrued rights pay-out to N1.211 trillion for 268,074 retirees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Accrued rights are accumulated pension benefits for employees of treasury-funded MDAs of the federal government from their date of first employment up to June 30, 2004.
Omolola Oloworaran, director general, PenCom, said: “After years of anxiety and injustice, we are finally breaking the chains of pension backlogs, thanks to the decisive leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
She said, previously, there was a backlog of 21 months, but within the past seven months, the federal government has released substantial funds, reducing the backlog to just three months.
“As of today, retirees up to March 2025 have been paid their pensions. They have gotten their benefits and are now receiving their money. We are just steps away from eliminating pension arrears, a historic milestone that resets the credibility of the CPS. For once, the word retirement will not mean fear and uncertainty, but dignity and predictability,” the DG said in Lagos weekend.
Oloworaran stated that President Tinubu’s approval of the N758 billion bonds to clear pension liabilities is further proof that this administration is rewriting the retirement narrative in Nigeria.
“Under his leadership, retirement will no longer be a sentence; it will be a well-deserved reward for many years of hard work by our retirees who have given a lot in building our great nation.”
According to her, PenCom is building a pension system that is transparent, inclusive, and unshakable. “We are restoring faith in retirement. We are rewarding work with dignity and we are doing so with unrelenting urgency.”
According to PenCom, pension assets as at March 2025 stood at N23.33 trillion, representing an increase of N820 billion, compared with the last quarter ended December 31, 2024, which stood at N22.51 trillion, ascribing the growth to additional contributions by employers and the investment income generated by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
The breakdown of these assets as of March 31 shows that RSA funds accounted for 77 percent; existing schemes, 12 percent; and closed pension funds, 11 percent.
Majorly, these investments are in federal government securities, which accounted for 62 percent of the total. They are followed by domestic ordinary shares with 11.02 percent, and money market instruments, representing 8.91 percent of the total.
With regard to the performance of the fund, the industry portfolio reported an annualised year-to-date performance of 19.29 percent.
Regarding benefit payments, retirees can choose between a programmed withdrawal administered by pension fund administrators (PFAs) and an annuity administered by life insurance companies.
Retirees under programmed withdrawal totalling 383,608 have so far received lump sum payments of N1.284 trillion, while monthly pension payments stand N22.464 billion.
Whereas retirees under life annuity option numbering 152,671 have received lump sums totalling N411.1 billon, monthly annuity payments stand at N301.456 billion, according to data released by PenCom.
