LAGOS – The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has recovered N4.57 billion from defaulting employers between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.
Mr. Oguche Agudah, Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), disclosed this while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos.
Agudah said the recovered sum comprised N2.12 billion in outstanding pension contributions and N2.45 billion in penalties.
According to him, the funds were realised from 138 employers who defaulted in remitting workers’ pension funds through PenCom’s enforcement actions.
“This is evidence that enforcement continues to safeguard workers’ retirement savings,” he said.
Agudah added that the next phase would move beyond episodic crackdowns to stronger preventive measures.
These, he explained, include real-time remittance monitoring, stricter sanctions for chronic defaulters, and deeper employer education to reduce repeat violations.
“The goal is not just big recovery headlines, but fewer defaults, faster remittances, and a stronger, more predictable Contributory Pension Scheme. It is vital that workers know their rights. All employers engaging three or more staff are required by law to remit pensions on behalf of their employees. There are whistleblowing mechanisms for employees whose organisations do not comply,” he said.
Providing a breakdown of the recoveries, Agudah said the highest was recorded in the first quarter of 2024, when N751.51 million in contributions and N1.44 billion in penalties were recouped.
He noted that although recoveries dipped in the middle of 2024, enforcement activities picked up in the
fourth quarter and rebounded strongly in the first quarter of 2025.
During the first quarter of 2025, he said the commission recovered N972.12 million in contributions and N381.88 million in penalties from 19 employers.
He explained that while the first quarter of 2025 was not the highest in overall recovery, it posted the strongest principal contributions of the five-quarter period, averaging N71 million per employer compared with N63 million in the same quarter of 2024.
Agudah said the trend indicated that PenCom was increasingly tackling larger and more material cases, even as the number of defaulting employers declined.
