Pension assets surged from N20.79tn to N31.48tn, a 51 per cent increase representing N10.7tn in new retirement funds in the two years since President Bola Tinubu took office.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday at the Meet the Press briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
She also revealed that over 938,000 new contributors had joined the scheme in the same period and that some retirees who received N18,000 monthly for 21 years under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund pension now received N206,000 every month following the first NSITF pension review since 2000.
Oloworaran explained, “Every successful pension system on earth is built on a simple foundation: confidence, confidence that contributions are safe, confidence that institutions work, confidence that after decades of honest labour, retirement will bring security, not uncertainty. Two years ago, that confidence needed restoring. Today, the verdict is in.
“Pension assets have grown from N20.7tn to N31.48tn as of this month. That is a 51 per cent increase, representing N10.7tn in new retirement wealth. Let me say plainly what those numbers mean: confidence is back, and the system is growing.”
She listed the administration’s pension reforms to include a N758bn Federal Government pension bond, a landmark Pension Boost raising aggregate monthly payouts by 22 per cent from N12.2bn to N14.9bn every month, a new End-of-Service Benefits Scheme for treasury-funded MDA retirees, and a forthcoming Minimum Pension Guarantee and PenCare free healthcare initiative for the most vulnerable retirees expected within three months.
On the N758bn bond, which she described as one of the most consequential pension interventions, Oloworaran said it settled pension obligations stretching back to 2007 and reached 957,045 Nigerians. “It restored the belief that the government keeps its word,” she stated.
She explained the reversal of pension payment timelines, in which civil servants whose accrued pension rights were previously 21 months in arrears at retirement now had a 41-month surplus in the system, with benefits approved within 48 hours of the completion of documentation.