The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced that the rebranded Personal Pension Plan (PPP) has opened up new opportunities for Nigerians to make voluntary pension contributions, allowing Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders to contribute directly without employer involvement.
The disclosure was made by PenCom Director-General, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, during a sensitisation workshop on the workings of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for employees and pensioners of Federal Government Treasury-funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), held in Lagos on Wednesday. The event brought together Pension Desk Officers from various MDAs.
According to Oloworaran, the newly restructured Personal Pension Plan, previously known as the Micro Pension Plan, is part of efforts to make Nigeria’s pension system more inclusive and accessible to both formal and informal sector workers.
“Before, we called it the Micro Pension Plan. Now, we are saying it is the Personal Pension Plan, the PPP. With voluntary contribution, before it had some limitations; you could only go through your employer to contribute. Now we are saying we have to democratise everything, just as we are doing with the informal sector. You can now decide to contribute for yourself,” she explained.
The original Micro Pension Plan, launched in 2019, was designed to bring informal sector workers into the pension net. However, its uptake remained modest, with only about 200,000 contributors and ₦1 billion in assets under management, far below expectations given Nigeria’s vast informal workforce.
Oloworaran said the redesign aims to broaden coverage and encourage participation by eliminating barriers that previously limited voluntary contributions. She noted that millions of Nigerians in the informal sector are yet to be covered by the pension scheme despite contributing significantly to the economy.
“For formal workers, we are doing very well — I think we are about 90 per cent or more in coverage. But in the informal sector, there are tens of millions of people, over 70 million by my last check, who are not covered under the scheme,” she said.
She emphasised that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed PenCom to accelerate efforts to bring informal sector workers into the CPS, noting that the sector contributes around 60 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The President has mandated that we must do all that we can to bring the informal sector into the scheme,” she added.
Highlighting other milestones, the PenCom DG revealed that retirees now receive their pension benefits immediately upon retirement, a significant improvement from past delays.
“Since July 2025, no retiree waits to access their pensions. Payments are now immediate, aligned with monthly salary releases from the Federal Ministry of Finance,” she stated.
Oloworaran also disclosed that pension assets have grown to over ₦25 trillion, contributing to national development through strategic investments in infrastructure, bonds, and other instruments. She said the sector currently supports over 552,000 retirees receiving monthly pensions and an additional 291,735 retirees who have received lump-sum payments — totalling more than 844,000 retirees across both public and private sectors benefiting from a transparent and sustainable pension system.
The workshop, co-hosted by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, provided updates on policy reforms, operational improvements, and PenCom’s ongoing efforts to enhance the efficiency of Nigeria’s pension administration.
With the rebranded Personal Pension Plan, PenCom hopes to deepen financial inclusion, boost voluntary savings, and enhance retirement security for millions of Nigerians outside the formal employment structure.
