The National Pension Commission has announced a renewed and more aggressive compliance drive, signalling that employers who fail to remit workers’ pension contributions will face firm and immediate sanctions.
The warning was delivered at a training workshop for accredited recovery agents in Lagos, where PenCom emphasised that defaulters will no longer be treated with leniency.
PenCom Director General, Omolola Oloworaran, represented by the Commissioner of Inspectorate, Samuel Chigozie Uwandu, reaffirmed that the commission is strengthening its enforcement powers to protect contributors.
She noted that continuous non-compliance undermines the purpose of the contributory pension scheme and places the retirement future of Nigerian workers at risk.
The News Chronicle understands that the commission has recovered a total of N32.27 billion from defaulting organisations between June 2012 and September 2025. This amount includes N15.87 billion in outstanding contributions and N16.4 billion in penalties.
In the third quarter of 2025 alone, N2.06 billion was retrieved from forty-nine companies, which senior industry sources describe as one of the most significant recoveries recorded in recent years.
PenCom explained at the workshop that recovery agents remain central to its compliance strategy. Officials highlighted new partnerships with key government bodies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and other regulators to close gaps in enforcement.
The commission also revealed that its ongoing memorandum of understanding with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission will enable the anti-graft agency to hold directors and senior managers personally liable when their organisations withhold workers’ pension funds.
The training session featured updated modules on employer audits, liability assessment, negotiation, documentation, evidence management and the deployment of advanced digital monitoring tools.
Oloworaran encouraged recovery agents to maintain high ethical standards as PenCom broadens its enforcement mandate, assuring them that the commission will provide all necessary institutional backing.
