PenCom DG urges pension operators to meet recapitalisation deadline

Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Omolola Oloworaran, has urged pension operators yet to meet recapitalisation requirements to comply urgently ahead of the July 2027 deadline.

Oloworaran gave the charge at the 11th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), in Lagos.

The conference had the theme: “Post-Recapitalisation Market Dynamics in Insurance and Pension Sectors”.

She said recapitalisation was necessary to strengthen institutions, improve resilience against financial shocks and protect contributors’ retirement benefits. “I would like to warn the industry that all those who have not met the recapitalisation requirements must comply urgently. There is no going back,” she said.

Oloworaran said recapitalisation should not merely produce bigger institutions but also improve service delivery and retirement outcomes.

She urged regulators and operators to ensure that reforms translated into tangible benefits for Nigerians.

“If the people we exist to serve do not feel the impact, what is the importance of the reforms?” she asked. The PenCom boss said the commission was shifting its focus from accumulating pension assets to ensuring their effective allocation for better returns to contributors.

She urged pension and insurance editors to hold regulators and operators accountable for the impact of their policies. Also speaking, Mr Wale Oshin, Group Chief Executive Officer, Custodian Investment Plc, urged insurance companies and pension operators to strengthen collaboration to improve retirement security.

Oshin said recapitalisation provided an opportunity to strengthen institutions, improve technology and enhance their capacity to meet long term obligations. He, however, stressed that increased capital must translate into better services and benefits for customers.

He also called for greater attention to annuities and retirement income, warning that inadequate benefits could undermine public confidence in the pension system. Meanwhile, Mrs Ebere Nwoji, Chairman of NAIPE, said the conference was organised to examine how capital raised by insurance and pension institutions could be invested prudently.

She commended the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Olusegun Omosehin, for completing the insurance industry’s recapitalisation exercise. Nwoji congratulated the 50 insurance and reinsurance institutions that met the requirements and urged Nigerians to take advantage of the sector’s improved financial capacity by purchasing insurance policies.

She also urged pension fund administrators (PFAs) to meet the revised capital requirements before the July 2027 deadline.

According to her, operators unable to meet the requirements independently should begin merger discussions early to ensure business continuity. Nwoji commended Oloworaran’s Pension Revolution 2.0 reforms, saying they could improve retirees’ welfare and reduce poverty in old age.

Mrs Ekeoma Ezeibe, President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, congratulated NAIPE and pledged the council’s continued support for the association. She said more efforts were needed to advance the insurance and pension sectors.