The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Thursday, 13 November, 2025 renewed its push to bring tens of millions of informal-sector workers into Nigeria’s retirement savings system, as its Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, said the revamped micro-pension framework is central to closing the country’s widening pension gap.
Oloworaran, who made this disclosure on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the Annual Conference of the Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Oloworaran, who was represented by the Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Buwai, said the redesigned scheme, now operating as the Personal Pension Plan, was introduced to address the limitations that hindered the uptake of the Micro Pension Plan launched in 2019.
Oloworaran said the scale of exclusion in the informal economy remained a national vulnerability.
PenCom DG noted that “Nigeria’s informal workforce is estimated at between 70 and 80 million people,” yet most have no structured retirement savings.
She described earlier participation levels as inadequate, saying the micro-pension programme attracted “about 200,000 contributors and roughly $1bn in assets,” which she stressed was “far below the scale of the challenge.”
She warned that artisans, traders, gig-economy workers, freelancers, and market operators power the nation’s everyday economy but remain outside formal pension protection.
“For far too long, many of these individuals have had little or no access to structured pension arrangements,” she said.
The reworked Personal Pension Plan, she explained, was designed to accommodate the realities of workers with irregular incomes.
The scheme allows participation from age 18, supports flexible digital contributions through multiple channels, and splits every contribution into an emergency portion and a long-term savings portion to prevent workers from being discouraged by liquidity needs.
Oloworaran said PenCom placed strong emphasis on digitisation to rebuild trust and reduce barriers.
“Contributors receive instant acknowledgement of their contributions and have real-time access to their statements,” she said, adding that Pension Fund Administrators and Accredited Pension Agents would deploy mobile-friendly, technology-driven solutions to simplify onboarding.
She added that contributions under the PPP would be managed through a dedicated investment structure with conservative and growth options tailored to contributors’ preferences.
The PenCom boss said the redesigned model aims to deepen financial inclusion, mobilise long-term domestic capital, and secure dignified retirement outcomes for millions currently left out.
Oloworaran appealed to journalists to support the campaign, saying, “Help raise awareness about the PPP and explain it in simple and relatable terms.”
