Nigeria’s pension industry is about to get a new tool for putting its trillions in retirement savings to work, according to National Pension Commission Director General Omolola Oloworaran, who says the long discussed Pension Industry Infrastructure Fund has reached an advanced stage, with a full framework now ready for review by Pension Fund Administrators and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the third Pension Industry Leadership Council meeting in Abuja, Oloworaran said stakeholders are expected to review the framework over the coming weeks, with decisions on the fund’s next implementation phase likely within one or two months. She framed the initiative as a way to channel the pension industry’s position as Nigeria’s largest pool of long term domestic savings into financing critical infrastructure without putting contributors’ funds at risk, arguing the sector is uniquely positioned to support growth generating investments while still delivering sustainable returns to Retirement Savings Account holders. She said PenCom is also working to deepen the industry’s engagement with the capital market and building a more data driven investment framework drawn from international best practice but adapted to Nigeria’s own economic conditions, aiming to give contributors better returns and a more secure retirement.
Alongside the infrastructure fund, Oloworaran announced that PenCom has begun its first comprehensive review of the Pension Reform Act in roughly 12 years, an exercise meant to modernise the legal framework governing the Contributory Pension Scheme and close implementation gaps that have surfaced since the last amendment. She said consultations are underway with organised labour and other stakeholders to ensure the review reflects broad national consensus before any proposed changes go public, and stressed that protecting the interests of ordinary Nigerians remains the overriding priority throughout.
On the long running dispute over police pensions, Oloworaran said PenCom recognises the concerns raised by police personnel and has kept up constructive engagement with them and relevant government institutions, noting that the frequency of pension related protests has dropped considerably as talks continue. She framed the real issue as improving retirement benefits rather than the specific question of whether police remain under the Contributory Pension Scheme or move to a separate arrangement, and said the commission is working with relevant agencies to resolve outstanding concerns as quickly as government processes allow, while maintaining that all verified pension arrears have already been settled and urging any retiree who believes otherwise to approach the commission for verification.
On enforcement, Oloworaran said compliance remains central to PenCom’s agenda, with the commission already collaborating with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and expecting to begin working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission shortly to hold employers accountable for failing to remit pension deductions. She also disclosed plans to intensify financial literacy campaigns ahead of the inaugural National Financial Week in September, aimed particularly at expanding the Personal Pension Plan among informal sector workers.
On state adoption of the Contributory Pension Scheme, Oloworaran said Katsina and Gombe states have recently joined, with Ogun finalising its own process, bringing the total to nine states, progress she called encouraging but still not significant enough. Her target, she said, is to see at least two thirds of Nigeria’s states adopt the scheme within the next 24 months, and she has been working directly with the Nigeria Governors Forum to present the scheme’s benefits to states that remain uncertain about how it operates, warning that workers in states that haven’t adopted the scheme may struggle to access retirement benefits down the line.
