The National Pension Week organised by the National Pension Commission, in collaboration with Pension Fund Operators of Nigeria, has youths inclusiveness in pension savings as its prime target, writes Ebere Nwoji
Operators of Nigerian pension sector is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to ensure that awareness on pension matters hits every corner of the country.This time, the operators led by the sector regulator, the National Pension Commission (PenCom), targeted the youths and children to instill savings culture among them through pension savings.
In spreading pension awareness among Nigerians of all ages, PenCom in collaboration with Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp ), staged the maiden edition of its annual Pension week across the country.
The pension week kicked off Monday, Oct 26th with a youth engagement and interactive session in which a good number of youths were assembled both physically and virtually to interact with pension experts on the need to start pension savings early enough. Parents were also encouraged to open pension savings account for their children.
The Pension week which will run Monday, October 26th through Friday, October 30, is aimed at deepening pension literacy, accelerating financial inclusion, and expanding overall participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The conference which has the theme “Your Hustle, Your Future: Why Retirement Planning Starts Now,” warned the youths not to allow their soft life of today lead to hard life tomorrow. The youth forum seeks to deconstruct the misconception that retirement savings are exclusively for older demographics. The discussions emphasised the necessity of embedding long-term savings into present financial choices, particularly for youths in the gig economy, tech ecosystem, and informal trade segments.
Addressing youth curiosity
Speaking at the event, the Director General of PenCom, Ms Bridget Omolola Oloworaran, said she knew some youths might raise the question on what business they have with pension as before now, Nigerian youths did not have anything to do with Pension. But now, she said she was happy the trend has changed through the contributory Pension Scheme system. She said it has become obvious that pension savings should start from youthful stage. She expressed her satisfaction at seeing that youths were already thinking about pension.
She noted that in Nigeria,youths under 35 years constitute 95 million population representing 40 per cent of the entire population.
She said the vision of pension was not, “the day you stopped working but the decision you take the day you started working.” She said the future lies with the Nigerian youths and that PenCom wanted to ensure they have pension. She urged the youths to picture their future adding that retirement contribution was not money taken away but money set aside for future.
She said youths should not wait until they have a formal job before they start thinking about pension but should start saving with what they have at present. She warned the youths that future does not start at 60 but today adding that no matter how bad the economy was, youths must try to put something aside to secure their financial future.She said parents could open pension accounts for their children so that everyone could save for pension not necessarily when one got paid job.
She assured Nigerian youths that PenCom was adapting its framework to ensure that modern, flexible arrangements replace rigid legacy structures.
She observed that the old pension system was built for a different world involving one employer, one salary, and 35 years in office, promising that PenCom would build a system that fits the modern work young people do.
She underscored that personal pension plans allowed self-employed individuals and informal sector workers including entrepreneurs, tech professionals, artisans, farmers, freelancers, and content creators to build sustainable retirement funds without needing a traditional corporate employer or payroll department.
Early Age Savings
To demonstrate the advantage of starting savings early in life, Oloworaran presented a comparative scenario involving two savers, Tolu and Emeka, using a conservative compound growth rate of 15 per cent per annum.
According to her, Emeka started saving N10,000 monthly at age 40, contributing a total of N2.4 million by age 60.
In contrast, Tolu began saving the same N10,000 monthly at age 20, contributing a total of N4.2 million by age 60.
She said driven by the power of compound interest over two additional decades, Tolu retired with approximately N113 million, arguing that despite contributing less than double Emeka’s capital, Tolu acquired more than eight times as much wealth at retirement, reinforcing that time was the single greatest asset young earners possess.
Pension Awareness
The PenCom DG also framed pension awareness within broader federal government interventions under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu designed to broaden economic inclusion.
She cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for expanding educational access, the Nigerian Consumer Credit Framework for widening access to credit, and the National Credit Guarantee Company for enabling collateral-free borrowing. She noted that while education raised earning capacity and enterprise creates income, pension turns part of that income into lasting security, protecting tomorrow what young Nigerians build today.
The PenCom DG charged Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), custodians and stakeholders to eliminate administrative friction and leverage technology to meet the expectations of younger contributors.
She stressed that if a young Nigerian could order food in two clicks, opening a pension account must not take a day, demanding that operators meet young people where they were and communicate in language they understand.
She outlined activities for the Pension week saying having kicked off with youth engagement interactive session and later Focuse on small business operators and artisans through a National SME Fair aimed at expanding the Micro Pension Plan (MPP).
Discussants’ views:
Discussants at the event who constitute youths both from pension sector, civil society group and corporate media and content creation circle agreed that it is important to start pension savings at youth. They noted that there was need for pension sector managers to restructure the message and language of pension to suit the understanding of the youths.They added that in pension savings, time was an invaluable asset but however noted that many young people in Nigeria still see retirement as something very far but that the earlier they see it as something worth doing the better.
They assured the youths that any money they contributed as pension savings was safe.
As part of the opening-day activities, the commission conducted a virtual and physical quiz competition and declared the result of national pension literacy essay competition it conducted nationwide for youths across three distinct categories: secondary school students, tertiary undergraduates, and serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Prizes were also given out to winners at the event. Winners of Pension week essay Competition:
Announcing the winners, PenCom named James Nnaemaka Aja and Oluwaferanmi Ogunmola as winners of the National Pension Week Essay Competition.
The announcement was made in Abuja,by the Commissioner (Technical), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Hafiz Muhammad Kawu Ibrahim, at the launch of the National Pension Week celebration.
James Nnaemaka Aja, an SS 3 student of Standard International Secondary School, Umuahia, emerged as the Category A Winner. He was awarded N1 million and a laptop.
While Oluwaferanmi Ogunmola, a Youth Corp Member serving in Cross River State and a graduate of Bamidele Olomilua University of Science and Technology, won Category B. He received N1.5 million and a laptop.