…As PenCom goes tough on pension defaulters
By Rosemary Iwunze
The total pension fund assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, increased by 2.2 per cent, month-on-month, MoM to N26.66 trillion in October 2025 from N26.09 trillion in September 2025.
National Pension Commission, PenCom, disclosed this yesterday in the unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended 31 October 2025.
Analysis of the report showed that a major chunk of the assets were invested in the federal government, FGN, securities, which increased by 1.3 per cent to N15.9 trillion from N15.7 trillion.
A breakdown of the FGN securities showed that N15.1 trillion was invested in FGN bonds, up from N14.9 trillion in September. A total of N686.2 billion was invested in treasury bills, up from N616.3 billion, while N2.16 trillion was invested in corporate debt securities, down from N2.24 trillion.
The total Retirement Savings Account, RSA, membership as at 31 October 2025 stood at 10,970,979, up from 10,928,039.
Meanwhile, Director General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, said that the Commission has ushered in a new era of zero tolerance for pension defaults with accredited Recovery Agents serving as the cornerstone of Nigeria’s social contract with its workers.
Oloworaran said that there is renewed nationwide compliance push to recover outstanding pension contributions and penalties from employers who persistently violate the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, which mandates remittance of pension contributions within seven working days of salary payment.
The Director General reaffirmed PenCom’s commitment to enforcing strict compliance across the pension industry.
PenCom currently engages Recovery Agents to audit defaulting employers, calculate outstanding pension liabilities, issue demand notices, and facilitate recovery of unremitted pension contributions. Recovery Agents’ work has been instrumental in enforcing compliance since the start of the recovery exercise in 2012.
PenCom data shows that the Commission has cumulatively recovered N32.27 billion, comprising ¦ 15.87 billion in principal contributions and N16.40 billion in penalties from defaulting employers between June 2012 and September 2025.
In addition, PenCom recorded significant compliance gains in the third quarter of 2025 alone, recovering N2.06 billion (N775 million principal and N1.27 billion penalties) from 49 defaulting employers, reflecting a sustained surge in enforcement activities.
Oloworaran said that despite the successes of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), persistent defaults by employers threaten the fundamental purpose of the system.
“Every unremitted Naira represents a broken promise to a Nigerian worker. This Commission has moved from promoting voluntary compliance to mandating enforced compliance. The era of impunity is over.”
PenCom DG also brought to the attention of the participants the newly executed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which empowers ICPC to hold the management of recalcitrant employers personally accountable, making pension defaults a matter with potential criminal implications.
“This MoU is a decisive step to give teeth to our recovery efforts. No employer should imagine that withholding workers’ pensions is without consequences,” the DG stated.
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