The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has clarified that the 38.1 percent drop in pension contributions in the first quarter of 2026 was not from a deterioration in recurrent pension payments.
The figure dropped from N903.70 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 to N559.42 billion as at March 2026.
PenCom explained that the comparison was skewed by N499.15 billion in exceptional transfers from the Federation Account in the previous quarter, which were cleared in the first quarter of this year.
When those one-off payments are removed, Q4 contributions stood at N404.55 billion. This means Q1 contributions actually increased by N154.87 billion, representing 38.2 percent growth.
The News Chronicle reports that the sums disbursed to workers were in addition to payments towards pension migration, adjustment, and accrued rights and benefits due to them.
Workers in the public sector contributed 50.9 percent while those in the private sector contributed 49.1 percent towards the total contributions paid into the Pension Fund.
PenCom also recovered N1.18 billion from 15 defaulting employers, including N450 million in contributions and N729 million in penalties.
The commission said stronger compliance and consistent remittances remain important to expanding Nigeria’s pension system and supporting long-term domestic investment.
The latest figures therefore suggest that despite the headline decline, underlying pension contributions maintained a positive growth trend in early 2026.
