PenCom seeks to expand pension access for all Nigerian workers
Nigeria’s National Pension Commission, PenCom, said it aims to enable every working Nigerian to access pension savings. Particular attention is planned for workers in the informal sector and the digital economy. The commission’s Director General, Omolola Oloworaran, said this on September 16 in Abuja during the launch of the ninth Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access survey, Premium Times Nigeria reports.
Pension coverage
According to PenCom, the share of Nigerian adults covered by formal pension arrangements increased from 7.8% in 2023 to 9.1% in 2026. At the same time, about nine out of ten adult Nigerians remain outside formal pension arrangements.
Oloworaran noted that this problem is particularly acute among informal-sector workers: traders, farmers, mechanics, drivers, tailors and barbers. She also mentioned young people earning income through digital platforms. According to her, financial inclusion should not be limited to access to an account but should strengthen people’s financial resilience and security.
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Data and new savings models
PenCom called on the EFInA organization to deepen research into the pension component of financial inclusion. The commission proposes finding out what incentives could encourage people without pensions to begin saving and continue making contributions, how pension products can be adapted to unstable incomes, and how trust in schemes whose benefits a person may receive decades later can be strengthened.
The commission also proposed creating a pension inclusion map that would show the scale and reasons for exclusion from the pension system by geography, gender, age, occupation and income level. PenCom believes that combining EFInA data with regulatory and industry information will help identify where the problem is most pronounced.
As part of the implementation of the Personal Pension Plan, the commission proposed testing digital pension account registration, a network of accredited pension agents, savings through transactions, marketing incentives and behavioural approaches. PenCom stressed that such initiatives should be tested and independently evaluated before their use is expanded.
