The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced plans to repackage its micro pension scheme to extend retirement savings coverage to an estimated 80 million workers in Nigeria’s informal sector.
Speaking on Thursday at the 2025 Pension Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PenCAN) annual conference in Abuja, themed “Inclusion and Innovation: Bridging the Pension Gap for Nigeria’s Informal Sector”, PenCom Director-General, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, highlighted the need to secure retirement for Nigerians outside the formal workforce.
“While the formal sector is significant, it represents only a portion of our national workforce. Millions of Nigerians earn their livelihoods in the informal sector, artisans, traders, freelancers, agricultural workers, and gig economy participants and have had little or no access to structured pension arrangements,” she said.
Ms. Oloworaran revealed that the 2019 Micro Pension Plan recorded only about 200,000 contributors with roughly ₦1 billion in assets, far below the scale of the challenge.
To address this, PenCom has re-engineered the plan under a new name: the Personal Pension Plan (PPP), launched as part of the Pension Revolution 2.0 initiative. The plan emphasizes five pillars: Inclusive eligibility, Flexible contributions and access, Innovative products and delivery, Digitized administration and transparency and Investment strategy and growth.
“The PPP is designed to overcome barriers such as irregular incomes, limited awareness, and the misconception that pensions are only for formal-sector workers,” the DG explained.
The initiative aims to transform informal-sector workers into pension participants through a technology-driven, flexible framework, enabling them to convert irregular earnings into long-term savings, mobilize domestic capital, and improve retirement security.
Ms. Oloworaran called on journalists and the media to help raise awareness about the PPP, educate workers in relatable terms, and highlight success stories of contributors building retirement savings.
Speaking at the event, Ms. Anthonia Ifeanyi-Okoro, Acting CEO of the Pension Fund Operators of Nigeria (PenOp), emphasized that pensions are not just financial instruments but social contracts that ensure dignity, security, and independence in old age. She noted that Nigeria’s contributory pension system, introduced by the 2004 Pension Reform Act, has transformed governance, portability, and funding in the sector.
“The PPP is practical, flexible, and portable. It allows lower minimum contributions, simplified registration, and digital channels for informal workers to accumulate retirement savings over time,” she said.
PenCAN President Mrs. Nana Musa highlighted that Nigeria’s informal sector comprises over 80% of the national workforce, making pension inclusion critical for sustainable social security, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth.
The conference served as a platform for dialogue among regulators, operators, policymakers, labour unions, and the media on strategies to expand pension access for Nigeria’s informal workers.
