IWD: PenCom, Rivers Govt Empower Women, Boost SMEs

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) in partnership with the Rivers State Ministry of Women Affairs has introduced a special savings bonus for women who opened personal pension plan accounts with them. 

The initiative was part of PenCom’s programme in commemoration of the 2026 International Women’s Day celebration.

The International Women’s Day event organised by PenCom was aimed at encouraging women, especially self-employed women, to secure their financial future through the Personal Pension Plan (PPP).

The outreach engaged women in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (markets and informal sector clusters), educating them on how to start saving for retirement in a simple and flexible way.

Speaking during the outreach to enlighten the women, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Capital, Acting Director, States Operations Department, National Pension Commission, Akinsola Adeseun, said the initiative was aimed at giving self-employed women the opportunity to save for their retirement.

He explained that: “This programme is an initiative of the National Pension Commission to promote a new product called personal pension plan. Personal pension plan is a program for informal sector workers, the artisans, the traders, the farmers, hairdressers, anybody that is self-employed, that is not worth of the federal government, or state government or local government or any big corporate organisation. 

“If you’re self-employed, this programme is for you because you’re not covered under the formal pension plan which is the contributory pension scheme.

“This plan is an initiative of the National Pension Commission to bring these people in fold because these people (the self-employed), according to statistics, make up to 90 per cent of our population and when they retire, they have nothing to fall back on. That is why the National Pension Commission under the leadership of the director-general felt that we should even bring this out during the occasion of the international women’s day because a lot of these women are the ones that make up the informal sector,” he said.

Highlighting details of the savings bonus, Adeseun explain also that any woman who deposits from N1000 to N2000 will have the money doubled, while any deposit amount above N20,000 would attract only N20,000 extra bonus, adding that the limit was to enable the bonus round the six geo-political zones of the country.

He revealed that the programme would hold between March 9 to 13, 2026.

According to him, “the commission is now encouraging women to come out and they’re saying that if they register from N1000 up to N20,000, the commission is going to match it with the exact amount up to a limit of N20,000. Somebody comes with N1000, we match it with M1000, you come with N5000, we match it with N5000, you come with N10,000, we match it with N10,000, you come with N20,000, we match it with N20,000. 

“However, if you do more than N20,000, we cannot go above the extra N20,000. So, if you come with N50,000, we pay extra N20,000 to make it N70,000, so that it can go round. The whole essence is for people of the informal sector, when they grow old and retire, to have something to fall back on,” he said.

He added that the plan is divided into two packages, the contingency liability, which allows the investor to access 50 per cent of their savings during emergency situations while the other 50 per cent will remain in the account and will only be made accessible when the person retires.

Earlier in her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Rivers State Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Ihuoma Boms, thanked PenCom for initiating the programme and expressed optimism that it would improve the welfare of women.

“Market women and members of various women organisations have been brought together to this epoch-making event to bless their lives and that of their families. Market women and small business owners will be acquainted with the PenCom officials on how to register and plan for life savings to achieve financial stability. I thank you all for finding time to be part of this year’s celebration. Happy international best day,” she said.

One of the participants, Mrs. Grace Amadi who said she sells fruits, thanked PenCom for initiating the program and expressed hope that more women would register to alleviate their financial challenges in old age.

“My friend told me about the program today. It’s a good thing for us to save, although I didn’t come here with money but I have collected their flyer. I will register before they close at the end of the day because the initiative will help us women at old age. Many women need to register to safeguard their future finances,” she said.