The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has stepped up efforts to enforce compliance with pension contribution requirements, warning that employers who fail to remit workers’ pensions as and when due will face penalties and restrictions on access to key business opportunities.
The Director-General of PenCom Ms. Omolola Bridget Oloworaran stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the 2026 Annual PenCom Media Conference.
She added that the commission was strengthening its monitoring systems, deploying recovery agents and introducing stricter measures to ensure employers meet their pension obligations under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Pencom DG said that the commission had introduced an automated system for processing Pension Clearance Certificates (PCCs), which calculates penalties for delayed pension remittances and prevents defaulting employers from obtaining clearance .
“Under the enforcement measures, employers seeking federal government contracts are required to present pension clearance certificates as evidence of compliance with their pension obligations. PenCom is also extending the compliance framework to cover vendors, service providers and other business counterparties dealing with institutions, including major banks, to ensure that pension default does not go unchecked across the economy”, she said.
The PenCom chief said the measures were designed to close avenues through which employers that default on pension contributions could continue to participate in economic activities without meeting their statutory obligations.
On recovery mechanisms put in place by the commission, she said pencom engaged recovery agents to examine employers’ records, assess their outstanding pension liabilities and facilitate the recovery of unpaid contributions.
According to him, the commission is working towards a system in which every employer remits pension contributions promptly, stressing that compliance monitoring and enforcement would continue to be strengthened.
PenCom DG said the commission was engaging state governments to encourage wider participation and improve retirement benefits for state workers.
She disclosed that two additional states had made progress towards full implementation of the scheme and were already remitting pension contributions, although they had yet to meet one or two outstanding requirements for full compliance.
He said PenCom would sustain its engagement with state governments to expand coverage and improve retirement outcomes for retirees.
On the implimenation of minimum pension guarantee and healthcare initiative due for launch on October 29, said the commission was hopeful that President Bola Tinubu would perform the launch.
He explained that the healthcare initiative was designed to support low-income retirees noting that it would be funded through a corporate social responsibility arrangement involving the pension industry, alongside voluntary contributions from prominent Nigerians and other institutions.
She stressed that the initiative would not require government funding, adding that PenCom was working on a sustainable financing framework to ensure its continued operation.
The commission, shr said, was engaging potential supporters and expected to announce further details on the funding arrangements ahead of the launch.
On the minimum pension guarantee, the PenCom chief said the Federal Government had already provided funding for the initiative through the pension protection fund.
He identified the Federal Government, pension fund administrators, pension fund custodians and PenCom as the current contributors to the fund.
However, he said the commission intended to broaden the funding base to include employers, arguing that wider participation would strengthen the long-term sustainability of the guarantee.
