A large majority of Nigeria’s Personal Pension Plan (PPP) accounts are still sitting without contributions, highlighting a major gap between pension registration and actual retirement savings. Data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) showed that 91.4% of registered PPP Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) remained unfunded at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
PenCom’s latest pension industry report revealed that 219,316 PPP RSAs had been registered by the end of the quarter, but only 18,811 accounts, representing 8.58%, had received contributions. This means 200,505 accounts had no funds, raising concerns about how effectively registered participants are building long-term retirement savings.
Despite the funding gap, contributions under the scheme continued to grow. PPP contributors paid N147.16 million in the first quarter of 2026, bringing total contributions since the scheme began to approximately N1.66 billion. The commission also recorded N11.12 million in contingent withdrawals during the quarter by 15 Personal Pension Contributors through four Pension Fund Administrators, while cumulative contingent withdrawals reached N124.30 million involving 346 contributors.
AccessARM recorded the largest share of new PPP registrations during the quarter, accounting for 33.64% of new accounts, while its cumulative market share stood at 52.4% of all PPP RSAs. The figures come as PenCom reviews Nigeria’s pension framework, with proposed reforms including a possible increase in statutory pension contribution rates and plans to create investment opportunities that could channel pension assets into critical infrastructure.
The unfunded PPP accounts come against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding pension industry. Nigeria’s total pension assets reached a record N31.32 trillion in May 2026, up from N30.94 trillion in April. However, the latest PPP figures suggest that while the overall pension pool continues to grow, getting more registered individuals to actively contribute remains one of the sector’s biggest challenges.
source: nairametrics
