The Federal Government has approved ₦758 billion in bonds for payment of long-standing pension liabilities, including pension increases owed since 2007.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Thursday in Yola, Adamawa, at a two-day sensitisation workshop on the workings of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for Employees and Pensioners in the North-East.
Oloworaran, represented by the Commissioner for Administration in PenCom, Alhaji Bello Abubakar, described the approval as a bold step by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to bring relief to vulnerable pensioners and restore confidence in the pension system.
She said the workshop formed part of ongoing reforms to enhance awareness and deepen understanding of the CPS among retirees and other stakeholders.
According to her, other key interventions under the reforms include pension increases for over 241,000 retirees, representing 80 percent of those under the programmed withdrawal arrangement.
“The increases raised monthly payments from ₦12.15 billion to ₦14.83 billion, effective from June 2025.
“The Commission has also eliminated waiting time for pension payments, ensuring that, since July 2025, retirees now access their benefits immediately after retirement.
“The proposed reintroduction of gratuity for civil servants, with a framework developed to restore gratuity benefits for federal workers under CPS, in line with Section 4(4) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014,” the PenCom DG stated.
She explained that the initiative was designed to enhance post-retirement benefits further and improve the welfare of pensioners.