Nigeria’s informal sector has an estimated 92.1 million workers, but only about 0.24% were covered by the Personal Pension Plan (PPP) as of the first quarter of 2026, according to the National Pension Commission (PenCom). The figures, reported on August 28, 2026, highlight the difficulty of extending retirement savings to millions of Nigerians working outside the formal employment system.
The scale of the gap became clear on February 9, 2026, when PenCom Director-General Omolola Oloworaran said more than 75 million Nigerians working in the informal sector could reach retirement without pensions or adequate retirement savings. Speaking in Abuja, Oloworaran said pension coverage among informal workers was about 0.25% and cited National Bureau of Statistics data showing that more than 90% of Nigeria’s workforce operates informally.
While the formal sector is covered by the Contributory Pension Scheme, millions of traders, artisans, farmers, transport workers and other self-employed Nigerians remain outside regular employer-backed pension arrangements.
PenCom launched the Micro Pension Plan in 2019 for self-employed and informal-sector workers. On September 26, 2025, the commission issued its Guidelines on Personal Pension Plan, replacing the MPP framework with a broader PPP for self-employed people, workers in organisations with fewer than three employees and other eligible contributors. PenCom describes the PPP as a voluntary retirement savings arrangement under the Pension Reform Act 2014.
Under the guidelines, PPP contributors maintain Retirement Savings Accounts with licensed Pension Fund Administrators and make voluntary contributions through approved banking and digital channels. Contributions are divided between retirement savings and a contingent component, subject to PenCom’s rules.
PenCom also changed how it reaches informal workers. On February 6, 2026, it licensed Awabah as its first Accredited Pension Agent to support marketing and registration of PPP participants. PUNCH reported the development on February 9, 2026, noting that the agent model was intended to expand access among self-employed and informal-sector workers.
The commission subsequently took the campaign directly to informal-sector women. In March 2026, PenCom targeted one million self-employed women for enrolment in the PPP. It also announced a matching-contribution window from March 9 to March 13, 2026, as part of its International Women’s Day activities.
The PPP is designed to accommodate the financial realities of informal workers. Its contingent component provides limited access to part of a contributor’s savings after the prescribed period, subject to PenCom’s conditions and withdrawal rules.
But uptake remains a major challenge. On July 7, 2026, BusinessDay reported that PenCom had acknowledged slow PPP adoption among informal workers, attributing the problem partly to low pension awareness and limited financial literacy.
PenCom’s Q1 2026 figures reinforce that concern: PPP penetration stood at only about 0.24% of the estimated 92.1 million informal-sector workforce.
For Nigeria’s market woman, therefore, the pension question is no longer whether a retirement savings product exists. It is whether the pension system can make that product accessible, trusted and flexible enough to become part of everyday economic life.
