The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is launching an aggressive push to unlock Nigeria’s massive informal sector with the aim of bringing the nation’s largest group of workers and their massive untapped billions into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
With an eye on dramatic industry growth in the long term, Director-General of the Commission, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, who unveiled the Commission’s “next steps” approach to supercharging industry earnings in Abuja on Tuesday, said that pension reforms cannot truly succeed while leaving the vast majority of Nigerian workers behind.
Speaking on the theme, “From Reform To Reality, Renewed Hope, Pension Security for Nigerians” at the 2026 National Pension Commission Media Conference, Ms Oloworaran, said that her team was giving the Personal Pension Plan for the informal sector a very strong push to enable the players benefit from the various programmes targeting pensioners in the country.
In a clear delivery of her message that Nigeria’s trillion-Naira pension experiment is moving into the trenches, the PenCom boss said the goal is to aggressively integrate market traders, artisans, and entrepreneurs into national safety nets, where they will enjoy unrestricted access to the existing pensioner welfare programmes.
She disclosed that the Commission has engaged accredited pension agents targeting workers in the informal sector from bustling open-air markets to roadside workshops, and the process of accrediting more agents for the same purpose is ongoing, adding that recruited agents were already taking the Personal Pension Plan to markets, motor parks, farms and workshops to enroll traders, artisans, farmers and transport workers.
Describing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the most pro-pensioners president that the country has ever produced, Ms. Oloworaran said the current administration is laying a solid foundation for sustainable social security in the country with focus on enhanced welfare for retirees through increased pensions and the free health package to be launched at the end of October 2026.
According to her, “I consider President Tinubu as the most pro-retiree president, going by the achievements recorded so far in the pension industry. From the very beginning of pensions in the country to all the reforms that have happened, he is the most pro-worker, most pro-retiree President we have seen in the history of Nigeria.”
The PenCom Chief, while highlighting a massive wave of efficiency gains rewriting the narrative of Nigeria’s pension sector, revealed that approval time of federal retirement benefits has dropped from a grueling 21 months to a stunning 48-hour turnaround, stressing that the Commission remains unrelenting in ensuring this radical and positive administrative shift is not only sustained but also improved upon
Forefront news reports the DG as saying PenCom is aggressively scaling up its welfare rollout with two major initiatives set for immediate launch during the upcoming National Pension Week, running from October 26 to October 30, 2026.
Key among these packages is “PenCare”, a groundbreaking retiree healthcare programme designed to provide zero-cost essential medical care to eligible low-income senior citizens and this high-impact initiative will hit the ground running immediately.
The Director General said the pilot phase of PenCare will completely cover 30,000 retirees, shielding the country’s most vulnerable pensioners from medical inflation and healthcare insecurity.
