FG moves to avert pension chaos, orders mass compliance 

By Victor Ahiuma-Young 

The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to prevent a potential pension crisis by ordering full compliance from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in the ongoing verification and enrolment exercise for civil servants with accrued pension rights.

This follows a low turnout recorded nationwide despite the importance of the exercise, which is aimed at ensuring the timely payment of retirement benefits under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS.

In a statement, the National Pension Commission, PenCom, informed that the one-time online verification and enrolment exercise targets all active employees of treasury-funded MDAs who were employed before June 30, 2004.

The exercise, which began on February 2, 2026, and is scheduled to end on July 31, 2026, is designed to capture accurate and complete data of eligible workers. 

This, according to PenCom, will enable the Federal Government to properly determine and settle outstanding pension liabilities inherited from the old Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS.

Under the Pension Reform Act, PRA,  2014, employees who transitioned from the DBS to the CPS are entitled to accrued pension rights representing benefits earned before the new scheme was introduced. 

To meet these obligations, the government established the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund, domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Concerned by the slow pace of participation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, issued a directive mandating all MDAs to ensure full compliance. 

The directive emphasised that the verification process is critical for determining the government’s pension liabilities and making adequate budgetary provisions for their settlement.

PenCom noted that the exercise has been significantly improved through digital innovation. 

The newly deployed Contributions and Bond Redemption Application, COBRA, enables real-time data capture, validation and processing, replacing the previously manual system that was plagued by delays and incomplete records.

The platform incorporates multiple layers of verification, including biometric data capture and cross-checking of employment records, to enhance accuracy and minimise errors that could delay pension payments.

To ease implementation, the exercise is being conducted in phases. 

The first phase, which ended on March 31, 2026, covered employees expected to retire between January 2027 and December 2029. 

The ongoing second phase, running from April 1 to July 31, 2026, targets employees scheduled to retire from January 2030 onwards.

Despite these arrangements, participation has remained below expectations, prompting renewed urgency from the government.

MDAs have been directed to upload details of eligible employees onto the COBRA platform, while affected workers are required to visit their respective Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, with relevant documents to complete the process. Pension Desk Officers within the agencies have also been tasked with coordinating the exercise and guiding staff.

PenCom assured that participation in the exercise would facilitate the computation of accrued pension rights and enable the government to make adequate financial provisions, ensuring seamless access to retirement benefits.

As the July 31 deadline draws closer, the Federal Government has called on Permanent Secretaries and heads of MDAs to intensify awareness and mobilise workers to participate.

Officials warned that failure to comply could complicate the processing of pension entitlements and lead to delays in accessing benefits at retirement, raising concerns about potential hardship for affected civil servants.

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