PenCom targets 3m new funded pension accounts to widen retire

Nigeria’s pension industry is targeting three million additional funded Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) within one year as the National Pension Commission (PenCom) seeks to expand retirement coverage beyond formal payrolls and mobilise more workers into the contributory pension system.

Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, announced the target at the National Pension Conference and Awards in Abuja, saying pension fund administrators (PFAs) and other industry stakeholders had committed to opening three million new active accounts with actual contributions, rather than registrations alone.

The target marks a push to extend pension coverage to workers outside conventional employment, including traders, farmers, transport operators and other informal-sector earners whose incomes often fall outside structured payroll systems.

“An empty account is a statistic, but a funded account is a future,” Oloworaran said, stressing that the industry must focus on accounts that accumulate savings capable of providing retirement security.

She said the next decade would require five major shifts in pension administration, including moving from payroll-based coverage to a population-wide approach, strengthening retirement security, enforcing employers’ contribution obligations, improving the financial strength of pension operators and directing pension savings towards national development.

The expansion drive comes as policymakers seek to improve financial inclusion and provide more Nigerians with a structured means of preparing for retirement. A larger base of regular contributors could also deepen the pool of long-term domestic savings available to support investment, provided contributors’ interests and retirement benefits remain protected.

Oloworaran said the commission would strengthen enforcement under the Pension Reform Act to recover contributions owed to workers, warning employers against treating pension deductions as optional obligations.

She also disclosed that every pension fund administrator and custodian must complete recapitalisation by June 30, 2027, as the regulator seeks to strengthen the institutions responsible for managing workers’ retirement savings.

On investment, she argued that pension funds could support infrastructure and productive businesses, including power, roads and housing, provided investments are managed in the best interests of contributors.

“Pension money is not government money. It is not industry money. It is the deferred wages of Nigerians,” she said.

President Bola Tinubu, represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, called for stronger regulatory oversight and professional investment management, warning against reckless decisions that could expose pension contributors to avoidable losses.

The president urged PenCom to enforce laws and standards without fear or favour and ensure that pension fund administrators remained accountable for their investment decisions.

Chief Executive Officer of Awabah, Tunji Andrews, said technology and access barriers had increasingly been addressed, leaving awareness and effective outreach as major challenges to expanding participation. He urged accredited pension agents to intensify efforts to bring more Nigerians into the system.

Competition among PFAs is also expected to intensify. Industry figures cited at the conference showed that five operators accounted for 54.41 per cent of new RSA registrations in the first quarter of 2026, down from 62.11 per cent in the preceding quarter. Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers led with 17.47 per cent, followed by AccessARM Pensions at 10.63 per cent and FCMB Pensions at 10.15 per cent.

The three-million-account target will therefore test whether the industry can turn wider digital access and stronger competition into sustained pension contributions. For workers, the real measure will be whether the system delivers reliable savings and adequate retirement income; for the economy, it will be whether a broader base of long-term savings can support productive investment without compromising the security of contributors’ funds.