Pension Arrears: FG Settles Liabilities Dating Back To 2007
By NJORIGE LYNUS
THE Federal Government has cleared inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007 through a ₦758 billion intervention bond.
The payment has provided financial relief to 957,045 pension beneficiaries across the country, according to the National Pension Commission.
PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed the development at the 2026 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos.
She said the intervention had resolved pension obligations carried across successive administrations.
According to her, the settlement also marked a major step towards preventing retirees from waiting for years before receiving benefits they had already earned.
Meanwhile, the commission has moved to address the possibility of fresh backlogs.
Oloworaran said accrued pension rights for federal employees scheduled to retire up to December 2029 had already been credited to their Retirement Savings Accounts.
The credits followed a one-time verification and enrolment exercise designed to establish workers’ pension records ahead of retirement.
In addition, PenCom has introduced a Zero Waiting Time Policy.
The policy seeks to align retirement benefit payments with monthly public-service salary cycles. Consequently, workers are expected to move from active service into retirement without prolonged gaps in receiving their benefits.
The commission has also reduced benefit-processing time significantly.
Oloworaran said the process, which previously took as long as 21 months, now takes about 48 hours under the new system.
The development places greater emphasis on timely pension administration and the protection of workers’ retirement entitlements.
For retirees who spent years awaiting outstanding benefits, the clearance of the inherited liabilities represents the settlement of obligations that had remained unresolved for nearly two decades.
