PENCOM pledges to see that Lagos State pays CPS retirees.

By Afolabi Oyekunle.

Director General of National Pension Commission, Ms Omolola Oloworaran has pledged that the Commission will fast track and work towards Lagos State government paying retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme what is due to them like their federal counterparts.

She made the pledge at a media workshop in Lagos for journalists. The Director General was surprised when she was asked why the Template for the payment was not released to Lagos State government for the payment of backlog of areas and allowances as approved by the Federal government, which Federal retirees are currently enjoying.

        PenCom DG, Omolola Oloworaran 

She thereby directed her staff to work on the Lagos State matter to settle the matter towards making the Lagos State government have all the necessary information needed to pay the retirees.

The PenCom Director General noted that Lagos State government was one of the few states that keyed into the program and has been consistent in ensuring that retirees are paid on time.

It could be recalled that President Bola Tinubu directed the payment of the money to retirees under the CPS which cover their areas from 2007.

 While the Federal government retirees have started enjoying the payment of the benefits, Lagos State retirees and four other states under the CPS are yet to be paid, waiting for circular for implementation from PenCom.

Meanwhile, she said PenCom approved and disbursed 758 billion naira to retirees in one year, stressing that the development represents the most historic milestone in the last 20 years when the Pension Reform Act was implemented.

Commending President Bola Tinubu for  his vision, she said the intervention clarifies that Nigeria is faithful to its promises to the workers and retirees.

According to her the Commission has paid   pension increase backlogs for federal government treasury-funded retirees, some dating as far back as 2007. 

She said zero waiting time for payment of approved rights was restored with effect from July 2025 this year. 

Omolola said the review of its reforms are bases on data, dialogue, and discipline with a view to ensuring inclusivity.

She assured that the commission would continue to expand, coverage, deepen trust, improve investment outcome, strengthen supervision, and protect retirees and active contributors for the next phase.

She hinted Pencom’s long term vision for the future of its medical fields,  PenCare would be launched March next year, enrolling 30,000 retirees across in Nigeria.

On some of the achievements of PenCom, she said between January to November 2025, total pension recoveries hits 4.04 billion compared to 1.44 billion for the whole of 2024, representing  a 180% increase,” she said.

In the third quarter, 2025, she said 2.06 billion was recovered, which is almost 150% of total recoveries recorded in the entire year of 2025.

She added:“We’re also seeing a similar shift in compliance behavior in the obtaining of pension claim and certificates. The value for pension claim and certificates issued average value on a quarterly basis was about 150 billion higher."

“Following our second line, the second quarter this year, the third quarter already recorded a value of 233 billion, far exceeding the average of preceding quarters. This clearly demonstrates that when compliance is tied to real economic consequences, behaviors change.”

The PenCom DG assured that  from next year, the Commission will enlist the support of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and organized labour to ensure pension compliance by employers in the country.

She expressed disgust over the non-remittance of employees’ pension by some players,adding that the collaboration with anti-graft agencies will improve remittances.