The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved a 1,173 per cent increase in monthly pensions for 2,116 retirees under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), ending a 21-year delay in pension review.
The approval, announced on Wednesday in Abuja, also resulted in the payment of ₦8.7 billion in pension arrears to the affected retirees, significantly improving their welfare and restoring the real value of their benefits.
In a statement, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, said the decision followed regulatory intervention by the commission and was made possible by the steady growth of the NSITF Fund. She said the increase raised total monthly pension payments from ₦12.56 million to ₦159.95 million, with each retiree receiving an average of about ₦3 million in arrears.
Ms. Oloworaran explained that the pension of an average beneficiary rose from about ₦18,000 to ₦206,000 per month, while some retirees received more than ₦8 million in arrears. She described the approval as part of ongoing pension reforms aimed at improving retirees’ welfare and aligning benefits with prevailing economic realities.
According to her, the decision aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to social protection and inclusive economic growth. She said the review corrected long-standing disparities in NSITF pension payments and ensured compliance with statutory provisions.
The PenCom Director-General said the enhancement was supported by the growth of the NSITF Fund, which increased from ₦54 billion at the time of its transfer in 2005 to ₦195 billion as of December 2025. She noted that the expansion reflected prudent fund management under strict regulatory oversight and provided the financial capacity to implement the long-overdue pension review without jeopardising the scheme’s sustainability.
Ms. Oloworaran explained that NSITF was established in 1993 as the successor to the defunct National Provident Fund and was responsible for managing pension benefits for private sector workers before the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004. Following the reform, she said NSITF pension assets were transferred to Trustfund Pensions Limited, which was mandated to manage the assets and pay benefits to existing and deferred pensioners.
She noted that both the Pension Reform Act and the Constitution require pension reviews at least every five years or in line with salary adjustments in the Federal Civil Service.
NSITF policy, she added, stipulates that minimum retirement pensions should not be less than 80 per cent of the national minimum wage.
Despite these provisions, Ms. Oloworaran said NSITF pensions had not been reviewed since 2005. To address the situation, she said PenCom invoked Section 53 of the PRA 2014 and directed that NSITF benefits be administered strictly in accordance with the scheme’s rules.
She said Trustfund Pensions Limited was subsequently instructed to submit a detailed proposal for pension enhancement, which formed the basis of the approval now implemented.
PenCom confirmed that the arrears and enhanced pensions have been paid to verified NSITF retirees. The commission also approved the deployment of the “VerifyMe” digital solution to automate pensioner revalidation.
According to the commission, the digital platform has eliminated the need for stressful physical verification exercises and improved service delivery, particularly for elderly pensioners.
