BY NKECHI NAECHE- ESEZOBOR—The National Pension Commission, PenCom, has directed Pension Fund Administrators and Pension Fund Custodians to blacklist any entity without a Pension Clearance Certificate from pension business with all PenCom regulated entities.
Omolola Oloworaran, Director general, PenCom, disclosed this today during its quarterly press briefing held in Lagos, that moving on, it is now zero tolerance for non compliance with the Pension Reform Act of 2014, effective immediately.
According to her the commission has launched an uncompromising compliance drive to ensure the Pension Reform Act is complied with by every operator, every organization, public, private, big or small, must comply with pension remittance obligations, no exceptions, no delays.
She said “all PFAs and PFCs have been directed to ensure every vendor, service provider and Counter Party has a valid pension clearance certificate that is evidences that they have been up to date and compliance with pension contribution by 30th November this year, any entity without a PCC will be blacklisted and cut off from pension business with all PenCom regulated entities.
She added that the directive also extends to banks, investment counterparties, parent companies and shareholders of licensed pension funds, administrators and custodians.
“All pension funds as affiliated entities must enforce the pension clearance certificate requirement across their operators and across all ecosystem and submit annual compliance attestations. We’re drawing a red line in the sand. Pension compliance is no longer optional. It is existential. Only those who value the future of their employees can participate in this ecosystem and the reward that it offers.”
She also disclosed that the commission is introducing the pension boost 1.0, this she said will take effective this month.
She also disclosed that the commission has introduced Pension Boost, an initiative that has led to an increase of monthly pension payment under the Contributory pension Scheme (CPS) from N8.3 billion to N11.9 billion.
She said the pension boost would enable retirees under the programmed withdrawal pension benefit package to received pension enhancements this month of June 2025.
“We are introducing Pension Boost 1.0. Effect June 2025, total monthly pension payment under the Contributory pension Scheme (CPS) will increase from N8.3 billion to N11.9 billion, directly benefiting over 233,000 retirees depending their pension account balances.
“This is not a token gesture. It’s a strategic check lead enabled by strong RSA investment performance, additional family reform under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
This race according to her is driven by the commission’s new on divided standard pension enhancement template, a structured, transparent mechanism to adjust pension upwards as investment returns increases and this is just the beginning.
