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The Federal Government has funded the accrued pension rights of enrolled federal employees who are yet to retire through December 2029, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced.
PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed the development on Wednesday, November 11, at the 2026 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria Conference in Abuja. She said the government had moved from a 21-month funding backlog to a 41-month surplus.
Oloworaran, represented by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai, explained that the improvement means the accrued pension rights of federal employees enrolled in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have been funded well ahead of their retirement dates.
She described the development as a major improvement in the government’s ability to meet its pension obligations to workers under the scheme.
The PenCom chief also said the commission had addressed delays in processing retirement benefits. According to her, eligible retirees now receive their benefits within a maximum of 48 hours after retirement.
She attributed the progress to reforms in pension administration aimed at improving the efficiency of benefit payments and strengthening retirees’ financial security.
Oloworaran also highlighted two initiatives launched by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday: the PenCare health insurance programme and a N52,500 minimum pension guarantee.
She said PenCare would help reduce retirees’ healthcare expenses, allowing them to use more of their monthly pension income for other needs. Pension operators and PenCom fund the programme, which has an independent board of trustees chaired by the commission’s pioneer Director-General, Muhammad Ahmad.
Under the minimum pension guarantee, eligible retirees whose monthly pensions fall below N52,500 will receive an increase to meet the approved threshold. Oloworaran said some beneficiaries had already received payment alerts during the programme’s launch.
The PenCom director-general further disclosed that the Federal Government had approved additional exit benefits equivalent to 100 per cent of terminal emoluments for eligible retirees, effective January 1, 2026.
She said eligible workers who retired in 2026 and submitted the required documents had started receiving the payments.
However, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners called for the government to extend the additional exit benefits to people who retired between 2004 and December 2025.
The union’s National President, Godwin Abumisi, represented by Ahmad Ibrahim-Gazali, made the appeal at the conference. The request highlights the demand for wider coverage of the new benefit among pensioners who left public service before 2026.
The latest funding announcement concerns accrued pension rights for enrolled federal employees who have not yet retired under the Contributory Pension Scheme. It should not be confused with a declaration that every pension-related obligation across all categories of federal retirees has been settled.
