The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Omolola Oloworaran, has warned pension operators that have yet to meet the revised recapitalisation requirements to comply before the July 2027 deadline, stressing that there would be no extension of the exercise.
Oloworaran gave the warning on Thursday in Lagos at the 11th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), where she said recapitalisation was necessary to strengthen institutions, protect contributors’ retirement benefits and improve service delivery. The conference was themed “Post-Recapitalisation Market Dynamics in Insurance and Pension Sectors”.
“I would like to warn the industry that all those who have not met the recapitalisation requirements must comply urgently. There is no going back,” she said.
The PenCom boss stressed that recapitalisation should go beyond creating bigger institutions to delivering better services and improving retirement outcomes for Nigerians.
“If the people we exist to serve do not feel the impact, what is the importance of the reforms?” she asked.
Oloworaran said the commission was shifting its focus from accumulating pension assets to ensuring their effective allocation to generate better returns for contributors.
She also urged pension and insurance editors to hold regulators and operators accountable for the impact of their policies and reforms.
Also speaking at the conference, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Custodian Investment Plc, Mr Wale Oshin, called on insurance companies and pension operators to strengthen collaboration to improve retirement security.
Oshin said recapitalisation offered an opportunity for institutions to strengthen their operations, improve technology and increase their capacity to meet long-term obligations.
He, however, stressed that increased capital must translate into better services and improved benefits for customers.
The Custodian Investment chief also called for greater attention to annuities and retirement income, warning that inadequate retirement benefits could weaken public confidence in the pension system.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of NAIPE, Mrs Ebere Nwoji, said the conference was organised to examine how capital raised by insurance and pension institutions could be invested prudently.
Nwoji commended the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Olusegun Omosehin, for completing the insurance industry’s recapitalisation exercise.
She also congratulated the 50 insurance and reinsurance institutions that met the recapitalisation requirements, urging Nigerians to take advantage of the sector’s improved financial capacity by purchasing insurance policies.
The NAIPE chairman further urged pension fund administrators (PFAs) to meet the revised capital requirements before the July 2027 deadline.
According to her, operators that cannot meet the requirements independently should begin merger discussions early to ensure business continuity.
Nwoji also commended Oloworaran’s Pension Revolution 2.0 reforms, saying they could improve retirees’ welfare and reduce poverty in old age.
In her remarks, the President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mrs Ekeoma Ezeibe, congratulated NAIPE and pledged the council’s continued support for the association.
She said more efforts were needed to advance the insurance and pension sectors.
