… unveils pension week with essay competition, MSME Fair, others

By Sam Otuonye 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said it recovered N36.6 billion from defaulting employers as at June 2026, breaking every record in the history of the scheme, noting that this year (2026) it has surpassed of last year.

The disclosure was made by the Director- General (DG) of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, in her keynote speech at the 2026 Annual Media Conference on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, in Abuja.

The DG stated that the Commission has made several progress within two years of her administration with the evolution of PenCare, the free healthcare window for low income retirees on as low as N30,000, the blossoming infrastructure investment, minimum pension guarantee, clearance of backlog of arrears, and exit package that started January 2026.

Oloworaran noted that the bottleneck of delayed pension payment and remittance of pension contribution by employers have drastically reduced as monitoring and enforcement have improved and more states and institutions being enrolled. She said two more states have been onboarded.

The DG revealed the unveiling of 2026 National Pension Week to run from October 26 to 30, with the theme: Pension For All: Building a Secure Future, highlighting the bouquet of events to include; youth engagement day, for secondary, tertiary and youth corps members, with essay competition and handsome rewards for winners.

On day two, she said it is for National MSMEs Fair, to showcase trades and crafts, by entreprenueurs, business owners who would be given free booths for exhibition.

Day three and four would be for Senior Citizens Day and National Pension Summit for professionals, while day five would feature Press Day, where outcomes and communique would be shared.

The conference, with the theme: From Reform to Reality: Renewed Hope Pension Security for Nigerians, brought together pensioners, the media, pension fund administrators, pension union (PenOp), and other stakeholders.

By Sam Otuonye 

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Olayemi Cardoso, have said that Nigeria was entering into a new phase of turning macroeconomic stability into faster growth, more private investment and stronger domestic revenues, after reviewing the progress of Nigeria’s reforms with the President of the World Bank Group, Mr Ajay Banga.

The meeting which took place on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday, also discussed how Nigeria could make greater use of World Bank guarantee instruments to unlock financing for infrastructure and draw more private capital into the domestic market. 

Banga commended the progress of Nigeria’s reforms, noting the rise in private capital inflows from about $300 million in 2023 to nearly $6 billion in 2026, a twentyfold increase.

Oyedele highlighted the rising economic growth and Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio rise from about 7 per cent to 12.5 per cent over the same period, noting that this gives the government more room to fund public investment without resorting to deficit monetisation.

Power infrastructure and human capital were also identified as priorities for continued public investment, given their importance to business competitiveness, productivity and job creation, as well as the quality of public spending, so that each naira delivers measurable economic and social returns.

The meeting was part of the Federal Government’s wider engagement with development partners to lock in reform gains and attract new investments, create more jobs and better living standards for Nigerians. 

Presidential Candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Dr Esther Okereke, says adoption of community policing and state police are critical solutions to Nigeria’s security challenges.

Okereke said this when she appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) personality interview series on Sunday in Abuja.

She ​‌‍​‌‍‌‍⁠⁠‍​‌⁠‍​⁠‍​‌​advised the Federal Government to rethink the country security framework, and invest in localised defence mechanisms to ensure the safety of lives and property across the country.

Okereke said that local security personnel were best positioned to defend their communities due to their deep understating of the local terrains.

She added that effective intelligence gathering and swift response mechanisms could only be achieved by empowering those at the grassroots level.

“I have said it before: Community policing is key. Equip the community vigilance groups, the forest guards, the hunters, fund and train them.

“Nobody can defend the community better from those that know the terrains,’’ Okereke said.

The NRM presidential flagbearer likened local crime to insider sabotage, describing community policing as one of the best mechanisms not only to weed out local collaborators, but effectively tackle the menace.

“My mother used to say that it is the rat inside the house that tells the one outside that there is fish in the basket,” she said.

Okereke expressing her support for the establishment of state police, dismissed the fears that state governors would abuse such initiative.

She said that the use of structural checks and balances, a strict chain of command, and clear jurisdictional boundaries would help to prevent political overreach in a decentralised policing system.

“There are clauses, they have their jurisdictions. They have who they report to. They have the chain of command. You can’t just come and say, Oh, I give all the veto power to the state to do everything or take your decision. No.

“When we say fund it, empower them does not mean you should give them the whole power to make decisions, to carry out judgment and sentences, no. It’s not done like that.

“Even in the federal, you can’t do it like that. I mean, that’s why you still have chain of command starting from the president down to the grassroot “It should still be like that. Still curb and curtail what they can do and what they cannot do. It’s as simple as that,’’ Okereke said.(NAN).