In order to reach over 75 million workers in the informal sector and capture them into the pension net, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) is relying on the services of digital platforms and accredited pension agents.
The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, stated this in Abuja yesterday at the presentation of a licensed accredited pension agent certificate to Awabah, the first company approved under the commission’s newly introduced pension agent framework.
Oloworaran said Nigeria’s pension reforms, though successful, had largely served workers in the formal sector, leaving the informal economy which accounts for over 90 per cent of the country’s workforce almost entirely uncovered.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, pension coverage among informal workers stands at about 0.25 per cent, a figure she described as “practically zero.” “This means that millions of market traders, artisans, farmers, transport operators, technicians and small business owners retire with nothing, no pensions, no savings and no safety net,” she said, warning that the situation poses a serious social and economic risk to the country.
She recalled that the 2004 Pension Reform Act transformed Nigeria’s pension landscape by replacing unfunded government promises with a contributory, savings-based system, leading to pension assets of over N27 trillion and more than 10 million retirement savings accounts. “Reform works, but it mainly secured the formal worker,” Oloworaran said. “Nigeria is not a formal economy, and that leaves a critical gap we must close,” she added.
To address the gap, she said PenCom has introduced regulations establishing accredited pension agents and rebranded the micro-pension scheme as the personal pension plan to make it more attractive and accessible to informal workers. She explained that the agents would operate within communities and workplaces nationwide, driving enrolment, education and trust, while technology would enable workers to make small, flexible contributions through digital platforms.
“If we are serious about reaching over 75 million Nigerians, we cannot rely on manual processes,” she said. “We must meet people where they already are on their phones with digital onboarding, micro daily or weekly contributions, realtime account access and seamless benefit payments.”
Oloworaran added that pension contributions are tax-deductible and said PenCom is working with payment service banks, telecommunications companies and fintech firms to scale participation across the country.
She described Awabah’s accreditation as a milestone, marking a new phase in pension distribution and inclusion, particularly for informal sector workers, while also creating employment opportunities through the deployment of thousands of agents nationwide.
Speaking at the event, Awabah Chief Executive Officer, Tunji Andrews, said the company was established to close the financial protection gap affecting informal workers.
“No African worker should be one mishap away from poverty,” Andrews said, noting that Awabah’s pension product combines retirement savings with insurance coverage. He said that for as little as N3,000 monthly, workers can access personal pension plans bundled with health, accident and life insurance, adding that the company’s agent network would support nationwide pension inclusion.
