..says over 75 million workers face retirement without finacial protection
Nigeria’s Pension Commission (PenCom) disclosed, on Monday, that it would leverage technology to expand retirement savings to the vast informal workforce, warning that more than 75 million Nigerians currently face retirement without any finacial protection.
Omolola Oloworaran, Director-General of PenCom, speaking in Abuja at the official licensing of Awabah as Nigeria’s first accredited pension agent, decried that the informal sector pension coverage stood at just 0.25 percent, a level she described as “effectively zero”, despite the sector accounting for more than 90% of the country’s workforce.
She said PenCom was targeting informal sector pension coverage of up to 10% by 2026 using digital platforms, marking the next major phase of pension reform since the landmark 2004 Pension Reform Act.
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She said payment service banks, telecoms operators and fintech firms would play a key role in delivering low-cost pension services at scale, while tax deductibility of pension contributions would serve as an incentive for participation.
“Financial security in old age is not charity, it is justice, it is stability, it is nation building. Now, our mandate is clear.
“More than 75 million Nigerians power this economy every day, yet they retire with nothing: no savings, no pension, no safety net. Old age should bring peace, not fear.
“If we are serious about reaching over 75 million Nigerians, we cannot rely on manual processes or paper forms. We must meet Nigerians where they already are, on their phones”, she said.
The PenCom DG informed that pension assets had since grown to more than ₦27 trillion, making Nigeria’s pension system one of the strongest on the continent, but acknowledged that the success of the reform had largely been confined to formal sector workers, leaving the informal economy, traders, artisans, farmers, transport operators and small business owners excluded.
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PenCom DG warned that the exclusion of the informal sector was not only a social failure but a macroeconomic risk, describing it as a “national vulnerability” that threatened long-term economic stability.
Closing this gap, she said, would require moving pensions out of offices and into everyday life through accredited pension agents, technology and simplified contribution systems.
She described Awabah’s licensing as a “watershed moment” for pension distribution, noting that the firm had become the first accredited pension agent under the new framework.
The DG further said PenCom is open to licensing as many pension agents as possible, provided they met regulatory and infrastructure requirements, with the aim of achieving broad national coverage.
Tunji Andrwes, CEO Awabah, explained that the initiative, called Resilience Funding, would be rolled out through an accredited agent network, allowing workers from security guards to small business owners to contribute to personal pensions and access health, accident, and life insurance for as little as 3,000 Naira a month.
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“Today isn’t just a celebration of a company, it’s a celebration of a collective commitment to closing that gap,” he said, while also emphasising the importance of regulatory support in making the scheme possible.
He added that the scheme represents part of a broader strategy to strengthen workforce resilience across Africa.
