PenCom Pushes To Enroll All Civil Servants In CPS

National Pension Commission (PenCom) is intensifying efforts to have all civil servants brought into the fold of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

To actualise this, PenCom Director General, Omolola Oloworaran stated during the programme held with civil servants said that PenCom is embarking in conducting a one-time nationwide Online Verification and Enrolment Exercise for all active employees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who were employed before 30 June 2004.

She called for urgent participation, especially as the deadline is approaching and the federal government has urged Permanent Secretaries and heads of MDAs to widely publicise the directive and ensure full participation.

According to PenCom, the exercise, which commenced on 2nd February 2026 and will end on 31 July 2026, is aimed at capturing accurate and complete data on eligible workers, it will support the timely payment of their accrued pension rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The exercise, according to Oloworaran, is to address legacy pension liabilities. The initiative, is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to settle pension obligations carried over from the old Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), which existed before the introduction of the CPS in 2004.

Under Section 15(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014), employees who moved to the CPS are entitled to accrued pension rights, representing benefits earned under the DBS.

To fund these obligations, the law provides for the establishment of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund, domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Similarly, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, in a circular issued on 27 April 2026, directed all treasury-funded MDAs to support the exercise.

The circular emphasised that “verification is essential for determining the Federal Government’s outstanding pension liabilities and making adequate budget provisions for their settlement.”

Digital Transformation Drives New Approach, explained Oloworaran, prior to the automation by PenCom a few years ago, relied on manual processes that were often affected by incomplete records and delays. The current exercise is fully digital and a significant technological improvement from the initial Online Enrolment platform. PenCom has now deployed the new Contributions and Bond Redemption Application (COBRA), a secure platform designed to support real-time data capture, validation and processing.”