PenCom Recovers ₦32.27bn, Sanctions Defaulting Employers

By Oluwakemi Kindness

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has intensified its enforcement campaign on pension compliance, announcing that it has recovered a total of ₦32.27 billion in unremitted pension contributions and penalties from defaulting employers between June 2012 and September 2025.

Of this amount, ₦15.87 billion represents outstanding pension contributions, while ₦16.40 billion were recovered as penalties for delayed remittances.

The Commission also recorded major gains in the third quarter of 2025 alone, retrieving ₦2.06 billion (₦775 million in principal contributions and ₦1.27 billion in penalties) from 49 non-compliant employers, signalling what officials described as the most aggressive enforcement effort in recent years.

According to a statement on friday by the commission, these figures were released in Lagos during a Training Workshop for PenCom-accredited Recovery Agents.

The Director General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, represented by the Commissioner, Inspectorate Department, Samuel Chigozie Uwandu, said the rising recoveries reflect a renewed national crackdown on employers who violate the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.

“Every unremitted Naira represents a broken promise to a Nigerian worker,” she warned. “PenCom has moved from encouraging voluntary compliance to mandating enforced compliance. The era of impunity is over.”

Recovery Agents (RAs), responsible for auditing employers, computing liabilities, issuing demand notices and driving recovery processes, were described as the backbone of PenCom’s compliance machinery.

The DG said their work has been essential since 2012 and remains crucial as the Commission deepens its reforms.

She emphasized that the appointment of the agents followed a competitive and transparent process, adding that PenCom expects them to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.

PenCom unveiled a strengthened enforcement framework that will impose wider consequences on employers who withhold workers’ pension funds.

Key highlights include:

• Stronger collaboration with CAC and FIRS, where employer compliance will now influence corporate standing and access to regulatory services.

• A new MoU with the ICPC, giving the anti-corruption agency power to hold management officials personally liable for persistent non-remittance — making pension default a possible criminal offence.

“No employer should imagine that withholding workers’ pensions is without consequences,” the DG said. “This MoU gives teeth to our recovery efforts.”

The training introduced enhanced methodologies for employer audits, liability assessment, evidence management, negotiation protocols, and the deployment of upgraded digital reporting systems.

PenCom officials also briefed participants on internal reforms aimed at faster processing of RA reports, improved inter-departmental coordination, and tighter monitoring of ongoing recovery actions.

Ending the workshop, the DG issued a strong charge to the Recovery Agents:

“You are the ambassadors of this new resolve. Act with ethical discipline, professional care, and unwavering commitment. PenCom stands firmly behind you to ensure every kobo owed to Nigerian workers is recovered.”

With the latest recoveries and expanded enforcement powers, PenCom and its accredited Recovery Agents are preparing to intensify nationwide compliance activities throughout 2026 and beyond.