Poor turnout slows pension verification, FG directs MDAs to comply 

The federal government has intensified efforts to boost participation in the ongoing mandatory verification and enrollment exercise for civil servants with accrued pension rights, following concerns over low turnout across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is currently conducting a one-time nationwide Online Verification and Enrolment Exercise targeting all active employees of treasury-funded MDAs who were employed before June 30, 2004.

According to a statement by the commission on Wednesday, the exercise, which began on February 2, 2026, is scheduled to end on July 31, 2026.

The initiative is designed to capture accurate and comprehensive data on eligible workers, a critical step toward ensuring the timely payment of accrued pension rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Despite the importance of the exercise, participation levels have remained below expectations, prompting a directive from Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, mandating full compliance by all MDAs.

In a circular issued on April 27, 2026, Walson-Jack directed Permanent Secretaries and heads of MDAs to take immediate steps to support the exercise by mobilising eligible staff and ensuring that required data is uploaded promptly.

The Federal Government explained that the verification process is essential for determining outstanding pension liabilities inherited from the old Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), which was replaced by the CPS in 2004.

Under Section 15(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, employees who transitioned to the CPS are entitled to accrued pension rights representing benefits earned under the previous scheme. To meet these obligations, the law provides for the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund, domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

PENCOM noted that accurate data from the exercise would enable the government to make adequate budgetary provisions for settling these liabilities and prevent delays in pension payments upon retirement.

PenCom also highlighted that the current exercise represents a significant improvement over past manual processes, which were often plagued by incomplete records and administrative bottlenecks.

The commission has deployed a digital platform known as the Contributions and Bond Redemption Application (COBRA), designed to facilitate real-time data capture, validation and processing.

The platform incorporates biometric verification and cross-checking of employment records to enhance data accuracy and minimise errors that could delay access to benefits.

To improve efficiency and avoid system congestion, the exercise has been structured in two phases. The first phase, which ran from February 2 to March 31, 2026, covered employees expected to retire between January 2027 and December 2029.

The ongoing second phase, from April 1 to July 31, 2026, targets employees retiring from January 2030 onwards.

As part of the implementation process, MDAs are required to upload details of eligible staff onto the COBRA platform, after which affected employees are expected to visit their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) with relevant documents to complete the enrolment.

Pension Desk Officers (PDOs), trained by PenCom, have been deployed across MDAs to coordinate the exercise and guide employees through the verification process.

PenCom assured that successful participation would enable the computation of accrued pension rights and support timely access to retirement benefits.

With the July 31 deadline approaching, the Federal Government has urged MDAs to step up awareness and ensure full compliance, warning that failure to participate could complicate the processing of pension benefits and lead to delays at retirement.