Key points
- The Personal Pension Plan recorded 219,316 registrations from inception to the first quarter of 2026, but only 18,811 accounts were funded.
- Unfunded accounts accounted for 91.4 per cent of total PPP registrations.
- PPP contributions increased by 42.46 per cent to N147.16 million in the first quarter of 2026.
Main story
Only 18,811 of the 219,316 registrations recorded under the Personal Pension Plan (PPP) from inception to the first quarter of 2026 had been funded, according to pension industry data released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
The figure means that 200,505 registered accounts, representing 91.4 per cent of total PPP registrations, remained unfunded as of the end of the first quarter.
Funded Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) accounted for only 8.6 per cent of the total registrations, highlighting the gap between registration under the plan and actual participation through pension contributions.
The data also showed that total contributions under the PPP stood at N1.66 billion from inception to the first quarter of 2026.
Despite the low proportion of funded accounts, quarterly contributions increased during the period, rising from N103.30 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to N147.16 million in the first quarter of 2026.
The increase amounted to N43.86 million, representing a 42.46 per cent rise between the two quarters.
The PPP is designed to enable self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme and build retirement savings.
The latest figures therefore point to the challenge of converting the large number of registrations under the plan into active accounts with sustained pension contributions.
The issues
The major issue highlighted by the data is the wide gap between PPP registrations and funded accounts.
While 219,316 people had registered for the plan by the first quarter of 2026, only 8.6 per cent had funded their accounts, leaving more than 200,000 registrations without contributions.
At the same time, the 42.46 per cent quarterly increase in contributions indicates that funding activity is growing, although the data show that sustained participation remains a significant challenge.
What’s being said
The supplied report does not contain direct quotations from PenCom or any other official.
What’s next
The key challenge for the PPP will be converting existing registrations into funded accounts and sustaining regular contributions, particularly among self-employed people and workers in the informal sector.
Bottom line
The PPP has attracted more than 219,000 registrations since inception, but only 18,811 accounts had been funded by the first quarter of 2026.
Although quarterly contributions increased by 42.46 per cent, the large number of unfunded registrations remains a significant hurdle to expanding pension coverage among informal-sector workers.
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