FG Pledges to Ensure Dignity of Nigerian Pensioners

•PenCom: Pension assets stand at N22.51tn as sector pays N3tn benefits, maintains tremendous growth  

•NLC says transitional arrangement for retiring workers lacking

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Ebere Nwoji in Lagos

The federal government has said it is committed to safeguarding the dignity and well-being of retired Nigerian workers.

It said that while a number of policy reforms have been implemented to address challenges affecting workers during retirement, the present administration is pursuing other initiatives meant to improve life of pensioners.

In another related development, the National Pension Commission (PenCom), has revealed that the pension sector has continued to maintain tremendous growth as total assets under management now hit all time high of N22.51 trillion as at December 2024 just as the sector has paid a total of N3trillion as benefits to Nigerians since inception.

The commission said the total assets figure shows significant growth compared to N18.36 trillion total assets under management which the sector gathered in last quarter 2023.

The commission however said micro pension contributions declined by 16 percent during the period, despite all efforts by both the regulator and the operators to grow this all-important segment of the pension market.

The federal government’s pledge to pensioners came just as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) lamented sufferings many retirees go through due unplanned retirement and lack of social safety net to enable them adjust to a new phase of life.

Speaking while declaring open the 2025 National Pre-retirement Summit in Abuja on Wednesday, the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, said that government is determined to make the life of pensioners more comfortable.

Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary in his office, Nnamdi Mbaeri, said that retirement should not signify an end but rather a transition into a phase, rich with possibilities.

He lamented that a retirement which was once viewed as a time of rest and reflection, “has now become a period marked by uncertainty, vulnerability and at times, distress for many in Nigeria and across the ECOWAS region.”

He said: “Many retirees face challenges such as financial instability, health concerns and a lack of direction post-retirement.

“The federal government remains deeply committed to initiatives that safeguard the dignity and well-being of our senior citizens. Through policy frameworks, institutional partnerships, targeted interventions, we will continue to support efforts that ensure every Nigerian retires with confidence, dignity and opportunity.”

The SGF urged workers and participants to use the opportunity offered by the summit to collaborate, learn and pave the way for a future where retirement is not feared but embraced with enthusiasm.

On his part, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero lamented the absence of a proper transitional arrangement for retiring workers.

He said that retirement for a Nigerian worker has continued to pose a nightmare because of sufferings and uncertainties associated with it.

Ajaero who said that Nigeria has been tinkering with the issue of new reform and old pension scheme but none of them has brought needed relief to the workers.

Apart from the absence of a proper transitional arrangement for retiring workers, Ajaero said the country does have any social security initiative or safety net targeted at retirees and the senior citizens.

He said: “Once you mention retirement, people think they will be retired to the dustbin of history. The way we retire in this country without a transitional arrangement makes it worse, next one month after retirement, things begin to get bad for the worker”.

The NLC president suggested the setting aside of one year for a transitional programme leading to the eventual retirement of a worker to enable him prepare adequately for the final exit from active service.

Ajaero said that organised labour is also pushing for a policy review to grant retirees access to at least 50 percent of their contributory pension a year or two before proceeding on retirement for them to make investments.

Earlier, the convener of the Summit and the Chief Executive Officer of Xem Consultants Limited, Eugenia Ndukwe, said the aim was to empower would-be retirees, “with the knowledge to effectively manage his finances, embrace entrepreneurial ventures and to reimagine retirement not as an end but as a vibrant new beginning”.

She said the group was motivated to embark on the sensitization initiative due the fact that most people approaching retirement are not adequately prepared.

“This summit was born out of sincere commitment to change that narrative,” she said.

While sharing her experience with managing pensions, the representative of Pensions Office, Head of Customer Relations Office of the Trust Fund Pensions, said that apart from helping workers to invest their pension savings for profit, what the fund does was to carry out pre-retirement and post-retirement sensitization for affected workers.

On its part, according to PenCom, the number of Nigerian workers who have registered into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as at the same last quarter of December 2023 stood at 10.58 million people against 10.341 people who registered in December 2023.

These are contained in the Pension Industry Performance Dashboard for last quarter precisely December 31, 2024 released by the commission recently.

Contributions into the scheme by the various RSA holders stood at N11.31 trillion. The public sector workers contributed N5.89 trillion which is 52.1 percent of the entire contributions while private sector workers contributed N5.42trillion which is 47.9 percent of the contributed funds.

Among the RSA holders, 84,495 are male, representing 61.5 of the entire contributors while 38.5 percent of the contributors are female.

 In terms of investment of the funds in various asset classes, FGN Securities top others as ₦14.11 trillion, representing 62.7 percent of the entire funds is invested there while Corporate Debt took ₦2.25 trillion representing 9.98 percent.Money Market took ₦2.22 trillion representing 9.27 percent while equites took ₦2.51 trillion of the fund representing 9.96 percent.

Total registrations in Micro Pension stood at 172,936 while contributions into the Micro Pension Scheme stood at ₦1.06 billion as at the last quarter 2024.

Contributions into the Micro Pension Scheme stood at ₦89.38 million, showing 16.3 from Q3 the figure in Q3 of the corresponding year.

In terms of retirement and other benefits payout, PenCom in the Dashboard said it has paid out a total of N3 trillion as benefits to Nigerians since inception of CPA in 2004 to the last quarter 2024.

According to the commission, the cumulative amount includes lump sum payments to retirees on programmed withdrawal and life annuities which gulped N1.51 trillion and block payments amounting to N58 billion; Others are loss of job benefits which took N265 billion and death benefits took N519 billion.

The Programmed Withdrawal (PW), payment according to the commission is payment made by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) that allows a retiree to access his/her retirement benefit on a monthly or quarterly basis; while Retiree Life Annuity (RLA) refers to a series of monthly or quarterly pension payments purchased from an eligible Life Assurance Company.

En-bloc payment is a lump-sum payment to retirees whose Consolidated RSA Balances are insufficient to secure a monthly or quarterly pension or annuity equivalent to at least one-third of the prevailing minimum wage.