The Federal Government has used a ₦758bn intervention bond to clear inherited pension liabilities stretching back to 2007, an exercise that has reached 957,045 pensioners and other beneficiaries across Nigeria.
Omolola Oloworaran, Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), made the disclosure at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos. She explained that the intervention settled obligations that built up across several administrations and represented a significant step toward resolving long-standing delays in pension payments.
PenCom further revealed that accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 have been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts after a one-time verification and enrolment exercise. To prevent fresh liabilities from accumulating, the commission has introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy.
According to PenCom, the time required to process benefits has dropped from as much as 21 months to 48 hours. The commission also reported an average increase of 1,173 percent in payments to 2,116 retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, alongside the settlement of ₦8.7bn in arrears.
Additional welfare measures are being prepared. They include the PenCare free healthcare support programme, which will initially cover 30,000 low-income retirees, and the activation of a Minimum Pension Guarantee.
