The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said its ambition is to ensure that every working Nigerian can access and build a pension, particularly workers in the informal sector and the emerging digital economy.
The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this plan while speaking at the launch of the ninth edition of the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) survey in Abuja on Wednesday.
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She argued that pension participation in the country increased from 7.8 per cent of Nigerian adults in 2023 to 9.1 per cent in 2026.
While revealing these figures, the commission’s boss also called for greater use of financial inclusion data to understand why millions of Nigerians remain outside formal pension arrangements and to develop interventions that can expand pension coverage.
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The official, however, said the figures meant that roughly nine out of every 10 Nigerian adults remained outside a formal pension arrangement.
“Financial inclusion cannot end with access to an account. It must build resilience, security and well-being,” the official said.
Mrs Oloworaran said pension exclusion was particularly significant among informal-sector workers, including traders, farmers, mechanics, drivers, tailors, hairdressers and young Nigerians earning through digital platforms.
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“They work. They earn. They carry this economy. But too many of them are growing older without building any security for the day they can no longer work,” the official said.
PenCom seeks deeper pension data
The PenCom DG called on EFInA to strengthen the pension component of its financial inclusion research by examining what would encourage Nigerians without pensions to start saving and continue contributing.
She said the research should examine the incentives that can change saving behaviour, how pension products can accommodate workers with irregular incomes, and how trust can be built in products whose benefits may not be realised for decades.
“These are the questions that move us from awareness to enrolment, from enrolment to regular contributions and from contributions to real retirement security,” the official said.
PenCom also proposed developing a pension inclusion map to show the extent and causes of pension exclusion across Nigeria by geography, gender, age, occupation, and income.
According to the commission’s Chief, combining EFInA’s demand-side evidence with PenCom’s regulatory and industry data could help identify where pension exclusion is most pronounced and which interventions could address the gaps.
Commission proposes experimentation
The commission further called for evidence-based experimentation as Nigeria rolls out the Personal Pension Plan.
It proposed testing approaches such as digital onboarding, an accredited pension-agent distribution framework, transaction-based savings, marketing incentives and behavioural interventions.
The official said the initiatives should be tested with Nigerians and independently measured to determine which approaches should be expanded.
“Because opening a pension account is not, by itself, pension inclusion. An account that is open but never funded will not provide dignity in retirement,” the official said.
The commission said the ultimate measure of pension inclusion should be whether Nigerians save consistently and accumulate sufficient retirement funds.
“The real value of this survey will not be the report we launch today. It will be what changes because of it,” the official said.
PenCom said government policy, its regulatory mandate, industry infrastructure and technology, combined with EFInA’s data, could help expand pension coverage among millions of Nigerians.
“At PenCom, our ambition is clear: a pension for every working Nigerian,” the official said.
EFInA seeks evidence-driven financial inclusion
In her welcome speech, Agnes Olatokunbo, EFInA Board Chair, reiterated the organisation’s core strategies and values, as well as its ambition to transform Nigeria’s financial landscape over the next decade.
She said the period since EFInA’s last survey in 2023 had brought significant changes to Nigeria’s economy, financial services landscape, households and businesses.
“At the same time, financial services themselves have continued to evolve. Digital channels have expanded. New providers and business models have emerged, and the ways Nigerians interact with the financial system continue to change,” she said.
Mrs Olatokunbo said the 2026 Access to Financial Services (A2F) survey provided an opportunity to understand the changes taking place in Nigerians’ financial lives, rather than simply determining whether individual indicators had risen or fallen.
She urged stakeholders to consider two broader questions: what financial inclusion should enable Nigerians to achieve and what the near-term priorities should be.
“These questions matter because the next phase of progress will require greater precision,” she said.
According to her, Nigeria’s size and diversity mean that people’s financial needs and experiences differ by income, gender, geography, age and economic activity.
“In summary, there is no single Nigerian financial consumer profile. If we design policy, products and interventions around an average Nigerian consumer, we risk designing the wrong thing. We are designing for a consumer that does not really exist,” she said.
She said the evidence from the survey should help stakeholders understand not only where financial inclusion gaps exist but also what drives them and the different responses required.
“For EFInA, this is where the real value of A2F lies,” she said.
From access to opportunity and growth
Mrs Olatokunbo said producing the survey was not the end of the process, arguing that its value would depend on how stakeholders used the evidence.
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“Our strategy, and indeed our capabilities, lie in connecting evidence with policy engagement, advocacy, capacity strengthening for a broad range of ecosystem actors, strategy and product advisory for market players, among other areas,” she said.
She said EFInA would engage stakeholders in the coming weeks and months to determine how the organisation could work with them to maximise the value of the survey findings.
She challenged policymakers and regulators to consider where the evidence pointed to a need for policy or regulatory action, while urging financial service providers to examine what the data revealed about the people and markets they seek to serve.
For governments, she asked how financial inclusion could contribute more effectively to wider economic participation and development, while development partners should consider where their interventions and resources could make the greatest difference.
“These questions bring us back to our theme: Access, Opportunity, Growth,” she said.
“Access matters because people must first be able to participate in the financial system. But the ambition must be for that access to create opportunities, and for those opportunities to contribute to the economic advancement of individuals, households, businesses and communities.”
She acknowledged the institutions whose partnership and support made the 2026 A2F Survey possible, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Bureau of Statistics, for their continued partnership and contribution to the survey.
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