The Federal Government has cleared inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007 through a ₦758 billion intervention bond, providing financial relief to 957,045 beneficiaries across the country.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos.
Oloworaran said the settlement had cleared pension obligations inherited across successive administrations, with some liabilities outstanding for nearly two decades.
“The Federal Government cleared all inherited pension liabilities, some dating back to 2007. These obligations passed through multiple administrations, but this government chose to settle them,” she said.
According to PenCom, the intervention bond was structured to address several outstanding obligations under the Contributory Pension Scheme and related pension liabilities.
About ₦387.5 billion was allocated to settle outstanding pension increases dating back to 2007, while ₦253 billion was provided for accrued pension rights of retirees from treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Another ₦107 billion was allocated to the Pension Protection Fund to support low-income retirees, while ₦10 billion was provided for professors’ retirement benefits.
PenCom had earlier reported that more than ₦600 billion of the bond had been disbursed by December 2025 to settle outstanding pension obligations.
Beyond clearing the inherited liabilities, PenCom said it had introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy aimed at preventing new delays in retirement payments.
The commission said accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 had also been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts following a one-time verification and enrolment exercise.
PenCom further said pension benefit processing time had been reduced from as long as 21 months to 48 hours, allowing retirees to access their benefits much faster.
The commission also reported a major increase for retirees of the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF). Following a 21-year review, 2,116 retirees received an average pension increase of 1,173%, alongside ₦8.7 billion in arrears.
Meanwhile, the Pension Boost 1.0 initiative increased aggregate monthly payments under the Contributory Pension Scheme from ₦12.15 billion to ₦14.83 billion, benefiting more than 241,000 retirees, according to PenCom.
The commission said the measures were part of broader reforms aimed at strengthening pension administration and ensuring workers do not face prolonged delays in receiving benefits after retirement.
