PenCom targets 95m youths, artisans with personal pensions

The National Pension Commission has launched the maiden edition of the National Pension Week 2026, putting 95 million Nigerian youths at the center of the country’s evolving pension landscape through expanded access to personal pension plans.

Speaking at the youth engagement interactive session themed ‘Hustle and Your Future: Planning Starts Now’, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, emphasised that the future of Nigeria’s retirement security rests on early financial planning among young citizens. She noted that young people under 35 years of age represent roughly 40 per cent of the national population, making their inclusion in retirement planning vital for long-term economic stability.

Addressing the audience on Monday, Oloworaran highlighted that modern career pathways required a dynamic retirement structure.

“Look at what young Nigerians are doing. Gen Zs are building tech companies, exporting code to the world, taking Afrobeats and Nollywood to every continent, and freelancing for clients in Lagos, London, and Los Angeles before lunchtime,” she observed.

She assured participants that the old system, built around standard 35-year office careers, is giving way to flexible solutions tailored to modern work models.

“We will not ask you to fit into an old system. We will build a system that fits the work that you do,” she affirmed, urging freelancers, tech professionals, artisans, and content creators to embrace personal pension contributions regardless of formal employment status.

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The Director-General illustrated the advantage of starting early by comparing two hypothetical savers, Tolu and Emeka. Tolu, who begins saving N10,000 monthly at age 20, accumulates over N113m by age 60 at a conservative 10 per cent return rate, whereas Emeka, starting the same contribution at age 40, retires with N13m.

Demonstrating the transformative power of compound interest over time, Oloworaran explained, “Tolu did not earn more. Tolu did not work harder. Tolu simply started earlier. And that is the power of compounding.”

She acknowledged the immediate economic pressures facing young citizens but urged them to leverage time as their greatest asset, adding, “Enjoy the soft life like I like to do myself. Just do not let today’s soft life become tomorrow’s hard life.”

To ensure rapid adoption across the country, PenCom is driving digital transformation across pension fund administrators and custodians to match the fast-paced digital habits of the younger demographic. Oloworaran called on industry operators to eliminate operational friction and streamline customer onboarding processes across all channels.

“If a young Nigerian can order food in two clicks, opening a pension account must not take one day,” she charged, reiterating that the regulator would hold pension operators to the highest standards of governance and accessibility.