The National Pension Commission has approved a 1,173 per cent upward review of pensions for 2,116 retirees under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, and has paid N8.70 billion in arrears to them.

The director-general of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

Ms Oloworaran said that the enhancement raised the retirees’ combined monthly pensions from N12.56 million to N159.95 million, marking the first pension increase for NSITF beneficiaries in 21 years.

She said that the commission also approved the payment of N8.70 billion in pension arrears to the affected retirees, with each beneficiary receiving an average of about N3 million.

She described the approval as part of ongoing reforms aimed at improving the welfare of pensioners.

According to Ms Oloworaran, this aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to social protection and inclusive economic growth.

She said that the development was a major step towards correcting long-standing disparities in NSITF pension payments and restoring the real value of benefits in accordance with statutory provisions and prevailing economic realities.

The director-general said that a retiree’s monthly pension was increased from about N18,000 to N206,000, and that the beneficiary also received over N8 million in pension arrears.

She said that the enhancement was made possible by the steady growth of the NSITF Fund, which expanded from N54 billion at the point of transfer in 2005 to N195 billion as of December 2025.

Ms Oloworaran said that the growth reflected prudent fund management under its strict regulatory oversight and provided the financial headroom required to implement the long-overdue review while ensuring the scheme’s sustainability.

“NSITF was established in 1993 as the successor to the defunct National Provident Fund.

“It managed pension benefits for private sector employees prior to the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme under the Pension Reform Act 2004.

“Following the reform, pension assets under the NSITF scheme were transferred to Trustfund Pensions Limited, which was mandated to manage the assets and administer benefits to existing and deferred pensioners,” she said.

She said that the Pension Reform Act and the Constitution require periodic pension reviews at least every five years, or in line with Federal Civil Service salary adjustments.

The NSITF benefits payment policy stipulates that minimum retirement pensions should not be less than 80 per cent of the prevailing national minimum wage. Despite these provisions, PenCom said that NSITF pensions had not been reviewed since 2005.

To address the prolonged non-compliance, the commission invoked Section 53 of the PRA 2014, directing that benefits under the NSITF scheme be administered strictly in line with the scheme’s governing rules.

Consequently, Trustfund Pensions Limited was instructed to submit a comprehensive proposal for pension enhancement, which led to the current approval.

PenCom said the payments have been made to verified NSITF retirees and added that it has approved the deployment of the “VerifyMe” digital solution to automate pensioner revalidation.

According to the commission, the digital initiative eliminated the rigours of physical verification exercises and significantly improved service delivery for elderly pensioners.

(NAN)