Deepening PPP through Inclusiveness

The National Pension Commission, recently used the opportunity of International Women’s Day to educate market women on the importance of opening and saving into their Personal Pension Plan to avert old age poverty, writes Ebere Nwoji

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) in earnest search for ways of achieving penetration of its Personal Pension Plan (PPP) among informal sector operators in Nigeria, recently found a solace in this year’s International Women’s Day celebration (IWD).

The commission with its team and managers of various pension fund administrations,  rode in the van of the women’s day to hit major markets in the country including Mile 12 food stuff market in Lagos, where the Director General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, met one on one with the real market women and spoke mouth to mouth with them in their native Yoruba language on the need for them to key into the personal pension plan in order to have something to fall back on in their old age.

Oloworaran also assembled the women folk of over 32 trade associations of market men and women at the popular Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa Secretariat Ikeja.   She related the success story of the pension scheme practiced in the country at present, encouraging them to be part of it because it is safe and secure.

The Personal Pension Plan introduced 2025 to replace the Micro Pension Plan launched in 2019, but could not achieve its target of bringing in informal sector operators into pension net, is a new, flexible, and more inclusive way for Nigerians to save for their future.

PenCom in the past seven years has been pushing to ensure the acceptance of the micro pension plan but could not achieve the desired result throughout the seven years of its experimentation. The Micro pension plan yielded only a total ofN1.06 billion; while only 172936 contributors registered into it.

Irked by this apparent slow growth of the plan, the erstwhile Director General of PenCom, Mrs Aisha Dahiru Umar, accused pension fund operators of not being serious with the marketing of the Micro pension scheme.

But with the coming on board of Oloworaran, the stage seems to be set for PFAs to smile to their banks due to mass embracing of the personal pension plan.

Oloworaran made her debut by introducing the personal pension plan to women at the international Women Day celebration. PenCom, first of all, explained reasons for  the introduction of Personal Pension Plan  to informal sector operators, saying that  it was mainly to provide financial protection to people in the informal sector of the economy, especially women, whom she noted,  work their entire lives contributing   so much  to the economy without financial protection at their old age. Oloworaran, addressing market women on the Personal Pension Plan, said this was why the commission decided to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day in a special way with market women to sensitise them on the need to key into the personal pension plan and save themselves from old age poverty.

Explaining the need for the informal sector women operators to key into the personal Pension plan, the PenCom DG said: “At the National Pension Commission, we believe that every Nigerian woman deserves dignity, security, and independence in old age. That is why we introduced the Personal Pension Plan. This plan allows market women, traders, artisans, farmers, and other self-employed Nigerians to start saving small amounts today for a secure tomorrow.”

“You can start with as little as N1,000, you can contribute daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on how business goes. And your savings will be professionally invested to grow over time,” she explained.

Oloworaran further explained, “Today, Nigeria’s pension industry manages over N28 trillion in pension assets for more than 11 million Nigerians. The system is safe, transparent, and trusted. And now we are extending those same benefits to women in the informal sector. And because this is International Women’s Day, we are doing something special. From 9 to 13 March, every contribution made by a woman into her Personal Pension Plan account will receive a matching contribution, up to a specified limit.”

She also called on all workers in the informal sector—including artisans, traders, and gig workers—to secure their future by tapping into the impressive investment returns currently being recorded in the pension industry.

She noted that the grand average Return on Investment (ROI) of 16.81 per cent serves as a compelling reason for non-salary earners to embrace the pension culture.

She noted that the commission had strategically rebranded and restructured the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) into the Personal Pension Plan (PPP) to make it more flexible, tech-driven, and attractive to those outside the formal employment bracket.

According to the PenCom boss, the newly minted Personal Pension Plan is designed to bridge the gap in Nigeria’s social safety net. She added that the plan has been stratified to cater for various levels of the informal economy, from roadside artisans to high-earning entertainers and sportsmen.

“We are building a pension system that is transparent, inclusive, and unshakable, with the Personal Pension Plan, we have simplified on-boarding using FinTech solutions. Saving for retirement should now be as easy as withdrawing money from a POS terminal,” she stated.

At both Mile 12 market and Alausa secretariat where thousands of market women in their various trade associations were assembled, managers of Pension Fund Administrative firms were seen registering the market women most of who were highly elated at the opportunity provided by the commission.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the commission featured women and enlightened them on the need to embrace Personal Pension plan.

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.

According to him, ”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, hair dressers, anybody that is self-employed, that is not worth with the federal government, or state government or local government or any big corporate organization. 

“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 into the fold because these people (the self-employed), according to statistics, make up to 90% of our population and when they retire, they have nothing to fall back on,” he said.

“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.

Sector observers admired the winning spirit in the present PenCom Director General, saying she could go places if given the chance.