June 22, (THEWILL) – It is evident that the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has stepped up measures to deal with those whose actions sabotage the 21-year-old scheme.
The Commission recently said it will blacklist organisations that fail to meet their pension remittance obligations from November 10.
The Director-General of PenCom who disclosed the plan during the commission’s second-quarter media briefing held in Lagos, said it is now “zero tolerance for non-compliance” as PenCom adopts a firmer stance to enforce the 2014 Pension Reform Act.
“Effective immediately, PenCom has launched an uncompromising compliance drive to ensure the Pension Reform Act is complied with by every operator,” the DG said.
“Every organisation, public, private, big or small, must comply with pension remittance obligations. No exceptions, no delays.
“All Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians have been directed to ensure every vendor, service provider, and counterparty has a valid Pension Clearance Certificate (PCC) that evidences that they have been up to date and compliant with pension contribution.
“By November 30 this year, any entity without a PCC will be blacklisted and cut off from pension business with all PenCom regulated entities.”
The PenCom boss said the directive also extends to banks, investment counterparty, parent companies, and shareholders of licensed pension funds administrators and custodians.
She said all pension fund-affiliated entities must enforce the pension clearance certificate requirements across their operators and “across all ecosystem and submit our compliance attestations”.
“We are drawing the red line, pension compliance is no longer optional, it is existential,” Oloworaran said.
“Only those who value the future of their employees can participate in this ecosystem and the reward that it offers.”
Oloworaran said PenCom is committed to restructuring the pension industry to build a more robust and inclusive system that supports sustainable economic development.
THEWILL recalls that PenCom had introduced a new pension contribution remittance system in May to improve transparency and efficiency, setting June 1, 2025 as the deadline for adoption by employers.
The Commission has also disclosed that the total assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose to N23.33 trillion as at March 31.
The Director of Surveillance, PenCom, Mr Saleem Abdulrahman, disclosed this in Lagos.
Abdulrahman said that the figure represented an increase of N820 billion when compared with the N22.51 trillion recorded as of Dec. 31, 2024.
He attributed the growth in pension assets to additional contributions from Retirement Savings Account holders and investment income, including gains from the appreciation of equity prices and interest income on fixed-income securities.
Breaking down the pension assets, he said the Retirement Savings Account Funds I–VI accounted for N17.90 trillion or 76.73 per cent of the total pension assets.
According to him, Existing Schemes accounted for N2.77 trillion or 11.87 per cent while Closed Pension Funds accounted for N2.66 trillion or 11.40 per cent.
Fund Assets were mainly invested in Federal Government Securities which accounted for 62.09 per cent of the total Pension Assets as at March 31.
“This is followed by domestic ordinary shares with 11.02 per cent and money market instruments which accounted for 8.91 per cent.
“The Industry portfolio reported annualised year to date performance of 19.29 per cent as at 31 March 2025.
“The commission in collaboration with Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) is organising a workshop on Investment in Alternative Assets, for Chairpersons of the Board Investment Strategy and Risk Management Committees of PFAs.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
