The National Pension Commission (PenCom) disclosed on Wednesday that it had approved an upward review of pensions for 2,116 retirees under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Scheme, increasing their total monthly pension payments from N12.56m to N159.95m.
The commission in a statement indicated that the upward review translated to an increase of 1,173% in the total monthly payout to the retirees under the fund and the first pension increase for the retirees in the last 21 years.
It maintained that the NSITF pension increase and payments were recently approved by the Director-General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, as part of the management’s reforms that have transformed the landscape of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The PenCom stated that as part of the enhancement, the 2,116 NSITF retirees had received N8.70 billion in pension arrears, with the average arrears payment amounting to about N3 million per retiree.
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It cited the case of a particular instance in which an NSITF retiree’s monthly pension was enhanced from about N18,000 to a whopping N206,000 even as the retiree was paid over N8 million as pension arrears.
The commission further clarified: “The enhancement was supported by the significant growth of the NSITF Fund, which grew from N54 billion at the point of transfer in 2005 to N195 billion as of December 2025. This growth reflects prudent fund management under the strict supervision of PenCom and provided the financial headroom necessary to implement the long-overdue review while safeguarding the Scheme’s sustainability.
“The NSITF was established in 1993 as the successor to the National Provident Fund (NPF), managing pension benefits for private sector employees prior to the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004. Following the reform, pension assets under the defunct NSITF Scheme were transferred to Trustfund Pensions Limited, which was mandated to manage the Scheme’s assets and administer benefits to existing and deferred pensioners.
“Section 39(3) of the PRA 2014, together with Section 173(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, mandates periodic pension reviews at least every five years or in line with Federal Civil Service salary reviews.
“Furthermore, the NSITF Benefits Payment Policy provides that the minimum retirement pension should not be less than 80% of the prevailing National Minimum Wage.
“Despite these provisions, the last review of NSITF pensions occurred in 2005.
“In response to this prolonged non-compliance, PenCom invoked Section 53 of the PRA 2014, which requires that benefits under the NSITF Scheme be administered in accordance with the Scheme’s governing terms. PenCom consequently directed Trustfund Pensions Limited to submit a comprehensive proposal for pension enhancement. So far, payments have been made to verified NSITF retirees”, it added.
