The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced that Nigerians, particularly those in the informal sector, can now contribute to their pension savings using smartphones and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes.
The Director General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, made the disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday during the launch of Nigeria’s first Pension Accredited Agent (APA), known as Awabah.
Oloworaran said pension coverage within the informal sector currently stands at just 0.25 per cent, describing the figure as extremely low given the structure of the Nigerian economy.
“The coverage at the moment for the informal sector is 0.25 per cent, which means essentially we’re not doing anything in this area. The Nigerian economy is also an informal economy,” she said.
She explained that with less than 10 per cent of Nigerians covered under the pension scheme, the vast majority of the population remains excluded from retirement savings.
According to her, the introduction of Pension Accredited Agents is aimed at taking pension services directly to workers across the country, including those in rural areas and informal business settings.
“So what we want to see with this accredited agent initiative is pension penetration, for them to take pensions to the streets, to the villages, to everywhere in Nigeria, so that we can get all, or at least a sizable majority of workers in the informal sector to enrol into the personal pension plan,” Oloworaran stated.
She added that the initiative is designed to promote financial inclusion and ensure long-term financial security for Nigerians in retirement.
“What we are just gunning for is increased penetration, because financial security in old age is very important, and that’s what we are working towards, to make sure that no Nigerian is left behind, and that everybody continues to save towards their retirement,” she said.
The launch of Awabah as a Pension Accredited Agent marks a significant step in PenCom’s efforts to expand pension participation and make retirement savings more accessible nationwide.
