DISRUPTING THE OLD PENSION ORDER

OMOLOLA OLOWORARAN writes that accredited pension agents will drive pension coverage beyond offices and formal payrolls

Nigeria has stood at moments like this before – moments when a single reform quietly alters the destiny of millions; moments when leadership chooses structure over excuses and dignity over delay.

Two decades ago, our pension system was broken. Benefits were unfunded. Promises were uncertain. Retirees queued endlessly. Old age often meant anxiety and indignity.

Then reform came.

President Olusegun Obasanjo laid the foundation for modern pension administration by establishing the contributory system and the discipline that replaced chaos with savings, transparency, and accountability. The results are undeniable. Pension assets now exceed N27 trillion. More than 10 million Retirement Savings Accounts have been opened. Nigeria operates one of the strongest and most resilient pension systems in Africa.

Reform worked.

But only for the formal worker.

And Nigeria is not a formal economy.

Over 75 million Nigerians operate in the informal sector. Traders. Artisans. Farmers. Transport operators. Technicians. Entrepreneurs. They power our markets and sustain our cities. Yet most will retire with nothing.

No savings. No pension. No protection.

This is more than a social gap. It is a structural flaw in our economic architecture. A country cannot build enduring prosperity when the majority of its workforce ages into vulnerability.

It is also a missed opportunity of historic scale. The informal economy contributes significantly to national output. If even a fraction of that income were systematically saved through pensions, the result would be trillions of naira in long term domestic capital. Capital for housing. Infrastructure. Power. Enterprise. Capital that builds nations.

Yet the traditional Pension Fund Administrator model, strong as it has been, was never designed to reach this segment at scale. Branch offices, payroll integration, and corporate onboarding cannot penetrate markets, farms, motor parks, and workshops. You cannot enrol a trader from a boardroom. You cannot reach a mechanic with paperwork.

Inclusion requires proximity. Trust. Daily presence.

Which is why disruption became necessary.

Accredited Pension Agents represent that disruption.

They take pensions to where Nigerians actually live and work. They simplify the message. They mobilise micro contributions. They convert informal earnings into structured long-term savings.

This is not distribution. It is mobilisation. And it disrupts the old pension order.

For the first time, pension expansion is no longer confined to PFAs operating within formal payroll systems. The model now introduces specialised, technology driven agents whose sole mandate is to scale participation in the informal sector.

The incentive structure is deliberate.

Accredited pension agents earn annuity-based mobilisation fees tied directly to the contributions they originate and sustain. These fees are not isolated. They are shared from the existing PFA fee structure for the assets mobilised, ensuring alignment rather than duplication. In effect, PFAs and APAs now share economic incentives for new contributors brought into the system.

Performance is central. Key Performance Indicators govern agent accreditation, renewal, and compensation: active contribution rates, retention levels, and growth in assets under management. Agents succeed only when contributors continue to save. Their revenue is tied to persistence and long-term outcomes, not one-off sign-ups.

That alignment is powerful.

It ensures that the financial success of the agent mirrors the financial wellbeing of the contributor. It introduces competition, innovation, and accountability into a segment that was previously underserved.

This is disruption with discipline.

It also creates employment. Thousands of young Nigerians will be trained, certified, and deployed as accredited pension agents. Pensions become not only a vehicle for retirement security but a source of immediate job creation. Financial inclusion becomes an economic stimulus.

Recently, I had the privilege of handing over Nigeria’s first accredited pension agent license to Awabah, a fintech that embraced this vision early. Many more fintechs, telcos, cooperatives, and payment platforms will follow. Reaching tens of millions requires technology, scale, and trusted local networks working alongside regulation.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has championed the expansion of financial inclusion and domestic capital formation. The Accredited Pension Agent framework is a direct expression of that mandate. It extends the pension revolution beyond offices and payroll systems into markets, villages, and communities.

The broader implication is profound.

As informal sector participation deepens, pension assets will grow. As assets grow, long term domestic capital expands. As domestic capital expands, investment in the real economy increases. Infrastructure financing strengthens. Enterprises scale. Jobs are created. Economic resilience improves.

Pensions then become more than retirement instruments. They become engines of national development.

At its core, the Accredited Pension Agent model affirms a simple truth: pensions are not privileges for those on payrolls. They are rights for every Nigerian who works.

History will remember the first reform as the foundation.

This moment will be remembered as the expansion. The point at which Nigeria chose to disrupt the old pension order and build a system that reflects the structure of its real economy.

The future of pensions will not be built only in boardrooms.

It will be built in markets, workshops, farms, and communities. One contributor at a time.And Accredited Pension Agents will lead that transformation.

Oloworaran is Director General,

National Pension Commission