The Federal Government has cleared the 17-year pension backlog with a N758 billion intervention bond to settle outstanding liabilities of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The move is expected to bring relief to 957, 045 pensioners who have been awaiting their retirement benefits since 2007, following delays caused by inadequate budgetary provisions and rising pension obligations
According to Omolola Oloworaran, Director General National Pension Commission, PenCom, the payment was made through an intervention bond.
She disclosed the development in a keynote address Tuesday at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference(PMC)in Lagos.
The settlement ends a backlog that accumulated under successive administrations and marks a significant test of President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to overhaul the country’s pension system.
“The Federal Government cleared all inherited pension liabilities, some dating back to 2007,” Oloworaran said.
“These obligations passed through multiple administrations, but this government chose to settle them”, she said, adding that it is statesmanship, a debt paid, not just a promise.”
She said the payment fulfilled a basic obligation owed to workers who had spent their careers in public service.
“When your working years are done, your country should not forget you,” the Director General said.
“For too long, that promise was kept slowly, partially, or not at all. Today, I can report that this has changed—not in aspiration, but in actual fact”, she added.
PenCom said it has also credited the accrued pension rights of federal employees scheduled to retire through December 2029 directly into their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA).
The credits followed a nationwide verification and enrollment exercise conducted by the commission.
The move is intended to reduce delays at retirement and improve the predictability of pension payments.
To prevent new backlogs, PenCom introduced a “Zero Waiting Time Policy,” which will link retirement payments more closely to the monthly public-service payroll cycle.
The Commission said the policy is designed to allow workers to move into retirement without a gap in income.
PenCom also said it had cut the time required to process pension benefits from as long as 21 months to 48 hours.
The conference highlighted several measures aimed at increasing payments under existing pension programs.
A 21-year review of benefits for retirees of the former Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund( NSITF) resulted in an average payment increase of 1,173% for 2,116 retirees, PenCom said.
The government also settled N8.7 billion in arrears owed to the group.
Under a separate initiative known as Pension Boost 1.0, monthly payments under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) rose to N14.83 billion from N12.15 billion.
The increase affects more than 241,000 retirees nationwide.
Oloworaran said a government’s commitment to its workers should be measured not only by how it treats them during their careers, but also by how reliably it meets its pension obligations after retirement.
PenCom said it plans to introduce additional welfare measures, including PenCare, a free healthcare program that will initially serve 30,000 low-income retirees.
She disclosed that the Commission also plans to activate a statutory Minimum Pension Guarantee and expand the Micro Pension Plan to informal-sector workers, including traders and artisans.
The expansion will rely on a nationwide network of agents, she said.
She said the measures form part of a broader set of pension reforms that PenCom says are intended to move the system from delayed promises toward more predictable retirement income.
