PenCom Warns of Pension Crisis in 23 States
Despite widespread legislation across Nigeria’s 36 states, only seven states and the Federal Capital Territory are fully implementing pension reform laws, the National Pension Commission has revealed, leaving millions of civil servants facing an uncertain retirement future.
PenCom Director-General Mrs Omolola Oloworaran made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during the maiden bi-annual consultative session for Heads of Service of states yet to fully adopt the Contributory Pension Scheme or the Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme.
“Out of the 36 states with pension reform laws on their books, only seven states, together with the Federal Capital Territory, are fully implementing these laws,” she stated.
Oloworaran revealed that while 30 states and the FCT had enacted relevant pension laws, six states still had reform bills awaiting passage in their state assemblies. More concerning, 23 states had pension legislation that remained either inactive or only partially implemented.
“Twenty-three states, sets of public servants or civil servants whose retirement future hangs in the balance, not because there is no law, but because the law has not been activated,” she said.
The PenCom boss described pension reform as a constitutional obligation, citing Section 210 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees pension rights for civil servants. She identified implementation discipline, particularly regular remittance of contributions and adequate funding of accrued pension rights, as the critical challenge facing states.
“The challenge is no longer the enactment of laws. The challenge is the discipline of execution,” she stressed.
Oloworaran also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu approved and released N758 billion in 2025 to clear outstanding federal pension liabilities, adding that no such liabilities currently exist at the federal level. She further announced the launch of “Pension Revolution 2.0,” a reform programme targeting retiree welfare, expanded coverage, improved investment performance and technology-driven service delivery.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, described the consultative session as timely, urging participating states to embrace honest dialogue and peer learning to strengthen public confidence in pension administration.
These developments come as Nigeria’s pension fund industry recorded significant growth, with total assets reaching N28.04 trillion as of January 31, 2026, representing a 22.64 per cent increase from N22.86 trillion recorded in January 2025. Monthly growth alone stood at N580.22 billion, while Registered Savings Account membership reached 11,084,127 as of the same period.