The National Pension Commission has accredited pension recovery agents to intensify efforts to recover N32.27 billion from employers that failed to remit workers’ pension contributions.
The amount includes N15.87 billion in outstanding pension contributions and N16.40 billion in penalties covering the period from June 2012 to September 2025.
The Director General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, made this known during a training workshop for accredited recovery agents held in Lagos.
She said the commission has adopted a zero tolerance approach to employers who default on pension remittances.
Represented by the Commissioner in charge of Inspectorate, Samuel Chigozie Uwandu, Oloworaran said the training marked a renewed nationwide push to enforce compliance with the Pension Reform Act 2014, which requires employers to remit pension contributions within seven working days of salary payment.
She explained that recovery agents have been empowered to audit defaulting employers, compute outstanding liabilities, issue demand notices and facilitate the recovery of unremitted funds.
According to her, PenCom recovered N2.06 billion from 49 defaulting employers in the third quarter of 2025 alone, including N775 million in principal contributions and N1.27 billion in penalties.
Oloworaran said persistent default by employers continues to undermine the contributory pension system and described every unremitted contribution as a broken promise to Nigerian workers.
She added that PenCom has moved from voluntary compliance to strict enforcement and warned that the era of impunity is over.
The commission said the recovery agents were selected through a competitive and transparent process, stressing that their role is critical to protecting workers’ retirement savings.
PenCom also disclosed that it has strengthened collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Federal Inland Revenue Service to ensure that employers’ compliance status affects their regulatory standing and access to government services.
