The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved a 1,173% increase in pensions for retirees under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), ending a 21-year freeze that left beneficiaries on incomes ravaged by inflation.
The approval was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by PenCom’s Director-General, Ms Omolola Oloworaran.
The decision affects 2,116 retirees, pushing combined monthly pension payments from N12.56 million to N159.95 million and significantly improving post-retirement welfare for long-neglected pensioners.
On an individual level, some retirees who had been receiving as little as N18,000 monthly will now earn about N206,000. PenCom also approved the payment of N8.70 billion in arrears, translating to an average lump-sum payout of about N3 million per beneficiary, with some retirees receiving over N8 million.
PenCom says the adjustment is the first pension increase for NSITF beneficiaries since 2005 and represents a correction of long-standing regulatory failures. The Commission noted that the stagnant regime persisted despite clear legal and constitutional provisions requiring periodic reviews.
“This is the first pension increase for NSITF beneficiaries since 2005, and it is a long-overdue correction of structural injustice within the legacy scheme. The arrears cover years of underpayment caused by regulatory non-compliance and failure to align pensions with economic realities.
“PenCom invoked Section 53 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 to enforce compliance after prolonged violations,” the Director-General added.
PenCom said the approvals reflect a deliberate shift from discretionary goodwill to firm regulatory enforcement anchored in existing laws.
NSITF retirees had been trapped under a frozen pension structure for over two decades, even as Nigeria experienced repeated inflationary cycles and cost-of-living shocks.
PenCom said the failure to adjust pensions for two decades amounted to a deep structural inequity that required regulatory intervention.
The Commission said the scale of the adjustment was made possible by significant growth in the NSITF Fund over the years.
Oloworaran noted that the development shows pension adequacy and fiscal responsibility can coexist when governance structures function effectively.
The decision restores dignity to thousands of retirees who endured two decades of stagnant pensions despite legal guarantees of periodic reviews.
PenCom has directed Trustfund Pensions Limited, the administrator of NSITF legacy assets, to submit a comprehensive enhancement proposal aligned strictly with statutory requirements.
The Commission said the reforms are part of broader efforts to modernise pension administration and protect beneficiaries’ rights.