Nigeria’s National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved a sweeping upward review of pensions for 2,116 retirees under the defunct Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), raising their combined monthly payments from ₦12.56m to ₦159.95m—an increase of 1,173%.
The decision, approved by PenCom’s director general, Omolola Oloworaran, marks the first pension adjustment for NSITF retirees since 2005 and follows years of criticism over stagnant benefits that failed to keep pace with inflation and wage reviews.
Under the enhancement, retirees have also received ₦8.7bn in pension arrears, averaging about ₦3m per beneficiary. In one case cited by the commission, a retiree’s monthly pension rose from roughly ₦18,000 to ₦206,000, alongside arrears of more than ₦8m.
PenCom said the review was made possible by the growth of the NSITF fund, which expanded from ₦54bn at the time its assets were transferred in 2005 to ₦195bn as of December 2025. The regulator attributed the increase to tighter oversight and investment management, arguing that the stronger balance sheet provided room for a long-overdue adjustment without undermining the scheme’s sustainability.
The NSITF, established in 1993 as the successor to the National Provident Fund, managed pension benefits for private sector workers before the introduction of the contributory pension scheme under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004. Following the reform, its assets were transferred to Trustfund Pensions Limited, which was mandated to administer benefits to existing and deferred pensioners.
Nigeria’s pension laws require periodic reviews. Section 39(3) of the PRA 2014, alongside section 173(3) of the constitution, mandates pension adjustments at least every five years or in line with federal civil service salary reviews. The NSITF benefits policy also stipulates that minimum pensions should not fall below 80% of the national minimum wage. Despite these provisions, NSITF pensions had remained unchanged for two decades.
PenCom said it acted after prolonged non-compliance by invoking section 53 of the PRA 2014, directing Trustfund Pensions to submit a comprehensive proposal for enhancement. Payments have so far been made to verified retirees.
To reduce the strain of repeated verification exercises, the commission also approved the use of a digital revalidation platform, VerifyMe, allowing pensioners to confirm their status remotely and avoid the physical verification processes that have often proved onerous for elderly beneficiaries.
The move has been presented by the government as part of President Bola Tinubu’s broader pledge to improve retirees’ welfare, though pension advocates say sustained compliance with review requirements will be the real test of reform.
