February 2026
11Feb

Nigeria Turns to Fintech Model to Fix Informal Sector Pension

For six years, Nigeria’s “Micro Pension Plan” (MPP) has been inactive. It was launched in 2019 by the Buhari administration to include millions of traders, artisans, and gig workers in the pension system. However, progress has stalled. As of Q3 2024, only about 164,000 out of a target of roughly 75 million informal workers had registered. Of these, only about 12,000 had funded accounts. This means coverage is effectively zero. On Monday, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) made a significant change....

February 11, 2026
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January 2026
22Jan

Nigeria. ‘Only 215,914 informal workers enrolled in personal pensions as 92m remain uncovered’

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that just 215,914 Nigerians in the informal sector are enrolled in the Personal Pension Plan (PPP), leaving about 91.88 million workers without any form of pension cover out of an estimated 92.1 million informal-sector workforce. The pension regulator, in its third-quarter 2025 report, said the figures highlight the enormous untapped potential within the informal sector and underscore the need for a more deliberate and coordinated industry-wide strategy to deepen micro-pension adoption. PenCom noted that...

January 22, 2026
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12Jan

Nigeria. Driving growth with recapitalisation

With macroeconomic headwinds still blowing, regulatory shakeups underway, and citizens demanding more value for their trust, Omobola Tolu-Kusimo writes on whether 2026 could be the year these industries either break new ground or stay stuck in the cycle of unrealized potential. The year 2025 ended with increased premiums, improved regulatory oversight, and renewed investor interest following NAICOM’s enforcement of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act, 2025 (NIIRA 2025).reforms and recapitalisation efforts. However, insurance penetration remains below 1per cent, a stubborn reminder...

January 12, 2026
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December 2025
16Dec

Nigeria. 92.4% of Personal Pension accounts unfunded despite push

Industry data indicate that the majority of the Retirement Savings Accounts under the rebranded Personal Pension Plan were largely unfunded, marking a glaring disparity between registration and actual contribution within the micro-pension scheme. This is against the backdrop of Nigeria’s pension industry recording a 5.93 per cent increase in its Total Net Asset Value to N26.09tn as of the end of the third quarter from N24.63tn in June 2025, driven by strong investment returns in equities and government securities. The PPP...

December 16, 2025
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05Dec

Nigeria to extend social protections to 60 million in the informal sector

The minister made this disclosure in Abuja during a two-day national dialogue on expanding social protection to informal workers. He said the Federal Government is taking concrete steps to address decades of exclusion affecting millions of Nigerians who earn a living in markets, farms, workshops, roadside enterprises and other informal settings. “Today, we write a new chapter in our collective journey to give dignity, inclusion, and protection to the over 60 million Nigerians who make up our informal economy,” the minister...

December 5, 2025
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November 2025
19Nov

Nigeria. Pension fund soars to N26tn

Nigeria’s pension fund assets recorded 22.03 per cent growth as of the end of the third quarter, as they rose by more than N4.71tn, with Pension Fund Administrators deepening their allocation to Federal Government securities, according to the latest monthly data released by the National Pension Commission. The figures, contained in PenCom’s latest Monthly Industry Report, indicated that total pension assets increased from N21.38tn in September 2024 to N26.09tn in September 2025, marking a robust year-on-year expansion of the Contributory...

November 19, 2025
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October 2025
10Oct

Nigeria. PenCom reintroduces gratuity for federal civil servants

The National Pension Commission has disclosed that it has deployed a framework to restore gratuity for Federal Civil Service under the Contributory Pension Scheme. Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday at a Stakeholders' Conference on the Workings of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for Employees and Pensioners of Federal Government Treasury-Funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies Represented by the acting commissioner, Technical at the commission, Hon. Hafiz Kawu Ibrahim, the DG said, 'Working with the office...

October 10, 2025
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06Oct

Nigeria. ‘Financial literacy key to unlocking pension market’

Nigeria’s pension industry stakeholders have stressed the need for a renewed national focus on financial literacy as a major catalyst for deepening pension participation and unlocking the economic potential of the growing micro-pension market. Parthian Pensions Limited, one of the newly-licensed pension fund administrators (PFAs), said an improved understanding of the contributory pension system (CPS) is crucial to bringing millions of informal sector workers into the formal savings net and boosting long-term funds available for investment in the economy. Speaking at...

October 6, 2025
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01Oct

70m uninsured informal workers pose risk to Nigeria’s economy – Experts

Nigeria is forfeiting a vast pool of long-term savings and investment capital because most of its estimated 70 million informal sector workers are excluded from pension and insurance schemes, financial experts have warned. Speaking at an industry event involving insurance and pension operators in Lagos, the Managing Director of Arthur Stevens Asset Management Limited, Olatunde Amolegbe, stated that failing to capture the informal economy poses a significant economic risk to the country’s financial stability and growth ambitions. Amolegbe said the insurance...

October 1, 2025
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September 2025
29Sep

Strengthening Nigeria’s pension sector: Rethinking the new capital requirements for PFAs and PFCs

The National Pension Commission’s (PENCOM) newly revised capital requirements for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) & Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs), while aimed at strengthening the financial resilience of operators, risk creating unintended consequences that could undermine investor confidence, restrict innovation, and distort the competitive landscape of Nigeria’s pension sector. This public commentary advocates for a more balanced and globally aligned approach that preserves the safety of pension assets while enabling growth, competition, and sustainable operations. 1. Understanding the Nature of Pension...

September 29, 2025
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