*Only 8% of 215,412 accounts receive contributions *PenCom to drive awareness through agents, fintechs, cooperatives *Experts commend scheme, point way forward

By Rosemary Iwunze

More than 90 per cent of informal sector workers who enrolled in the Personal Pension Plan, PPP, have abandoned the scheme, as subscribers blame worsening economic hardship for their inability to make regular pension contributions.

Financial Vanguard findings show that only 17,320, representing eight per cent of the 215,412 registered Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, under the scheme, had received contributions as at December 2025, while the remaining 198,092 accounts, representing 92 per cent, were dormant.

Many traders and artisans also expressed ignorance of the scheme or how it works, even as the National Pension Commission, PenCom, pledged to expand awareness through accredited agents, fintechs, cooperatives and other distribution partners.

Financial Vanguard findings showed that although registrations under the PPP have continued to rise, the proportion of active contributors has remained extremely low.

Available PenCom data showed that while registered PPP accounts rose by 175 per cent in four years to 215,412 in 2025 from 78,087 in 2022, the proportion of dormant accounts also increased to 92 per cent from 87.4 per cent during the same period.

The trend has persisted over the years. In 2024, about 157,476 out of the 172,936 registered accounts, representing 91.1 per cent, were dormant, as only 15,460 accounts received contributions. Similarly, in 2023, about 101,232 of the 114,382 registered accounts, representing 88.5 per cent, were inactive, while only 13,150 contributors made pension payments.

Decrying the situation, PenCom stated that registrations are not savings, and that registration without funding creates a misleading picture of inclusion.

PenCom noted that the development indicates the need for targeted strategies to drive regular contributions, such as improved participant education, incentive structures and streamlined remittance processes, to ensure the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of the PPP.

The PPP, formerly known as the Micro Pension Plan, was created by PenCom to extend Nigeria’s financial inclusion frontier, while encouraging low-income groups, mainly self-employed and informal sector workers, to build pension savings for their old age.

The scheme, one of the Federal Government’s most strategic financial inclusion initiatives packaged and implemented by PenCom, envisaged enrolling about nine million registrants by 2023.

However, PenCom believes that Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, have been lackadaisical in creating awareness of the PPP.

This development compelled the regulatory body to mandate PFAs to submit annual awareness plans for the PPP or face sanctions.

While PFAs have been complying with the directive, the PPP has continued to crawl over the years.

Experts’ insight

Worried by the state of the PPP, experts believe there is vast untapped potential in the informal sector and an urgent need for a broader, more coordinated effort by the pension industry to deepen PPP penetration.

According to them, strengthening public awareness, expanding agent networks and tailoring products to the realities of informal sector workers will be essential to achieving national pension inclusion targets and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the PPP.

Speaking on the development, Managing Director of Anchor Actuarial Services, Mr. Pius Apere, said that the PPP is designed to bring self-employed members of the public into the pension system with a view to safeguarding them against poverty in old age.

Apere stated: “The government must do all within its power to turn the economy around for the better to prevent further withdrawals from pension savings. An average Nigerian must have one form of pension scheme or the other, whether formal or informal, and the PPP can help us include more Nigerians in the financial safety net. PPP can be made a big deal in Nigeria.”

Also commenting, former President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, Mr. Edwin Igbiti, said: “The implementation of the PPP will improve the standard of living of informal sector participants at retirement and reduce dependence on extended family support.”

He noted that self-employed people and workers in the informal sector could enjoy financial and economic protection by participating in the plan, as the initiative would provide income in old age and inculcate a savings culture through highly protected and regulated investments.

In his own comment, Managing Director of Boff Insurance Brokers, Mr. Olumide Fatogun, said that pension fund operators must be more creative in product design by introducing products that hold multiple benefits to attract more people to embrace the scheme.

He stated: “The era of one-size-fits-all in consumer engagement is gone; therefore, operators should be more ingenious in their product designs.

“We have to sufficiently target specific segments of society with varying needs. This means operators must remain innovative and creative with their services and products. We need to rethink our old ways.”

Informal sector concerns

However, Founder and President of the Association of Micro Enterprises of Nigeria, AMEN, Prince Saviour Iche, believes that the stagnation being experienced in the PPP is due to little or no awareness of the scheme.

Iche stated: “The PPP is a good scheme and can go a long way in eradicating old-age poverty. However, there is little or no awareness of the scheme. How do you expect people to key into something when they have little or no knowledge about it? Many of my members have never heard of the scheme.

“We expect the National Pension Commission, PenCom, as well as other stakeholders in the industry, to carry out regular enlightenment on the scheme, but we are not seeing that.”

Also speaking, Iyaloja of Onigbongo, Mrs. Fasilat Yusuf, said she had never heard of the PPP before.

She stated: “I have not heard of the PPP before, and my fellow traders are not aware of it. Nobody has come to tell us what it is, how it works or how it can benefit us.”

Also, Chairman of the Vulcanisers Association, Maryland (Lagos) Zone, Mr. Bayo Alagbe, said that the absence of sensitisation on the PPP is adversely affecting the scheme.

He stated: “I heard about the PPP some time ago, but I did not understand anything about it. Even my members do not know anything about it. Nobody has come to tell us what it entails and what we stand to gain.

“I know that some people opened accounts, but many of them still do not understand it. That is why they are not following up.”

On her part, Acting National President of the Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation, Mrs. Ojo Florence, said that the worsening economic situation is affecting the income of many informal sector workers. She stated: “The economy is not smiling. As such, putting money aside for pension is not the priority of many informal sector workers at the moment.

“Even many of my members are not aware that something like the PPP exists because nobody has ever come to educate them about it.”

Way forward, by PenCom

To improve the situation, PenCom stated: “We will accelerate engagement and onboarding under the accredited pension agent framework; activate accredited agents; deepen distribution partnerships with cooperatives, fintechs, telcos, trade unions and professional associations; and drive sustained sensitisation campaigns to bring informal sector workers, MSMEs, gig workers and self-employed Nigerians onto the Personal Pension Plan.”

By Cynthia Alo

Access Bank Plc has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered application, Access SME App, designed to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) manage their daily business operations from a single application.

The app was formally unveiled during the bank’s maiden SME conference held over the weekend in Lagos themed, “AI for SMEs: Scaling Through Digital Tools”.

Experts including government officials, technology experts and business leaders who spoke at the event said AI is no longer optional for businesses seeking to improve efficiency, expand their customer base and scale operations.

Speaking, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Entrepreneurship Development in Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Chalya Shagaya, urged entrepreneurs to take advantage of AI to grow their businesses.

Shagaya said while entrepreneurship begins with an idea, businesses now require technology to execute those ideas effectively.

She noted that many small business owners perform several roles at once, including marketing, customer service, inventory management and accounting, adding that AI can reduce such workload by automating routine tasks.

On his part, Executive Director, University of Lagos Business School, Prof. Sunday Adebisi, said SMEs remain the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and as such business owners must improve their digital skills, use AI to deepen customer relationships and strengthen their online presence.

Adebisi said despite the sector’s importance, about 50 percent of small businesses fail within their first year of operation, adding that business owners can deploy AI to analyse information and help them make better decisions.

Speaking on the newly launched app, Head, SME Banking at Access Bank, Abiodun Olubitan, said the app was developed after the bank listened to feedback from SMEs who often considered digital tools too complex or designed mainly for large corporations.

According to her, the bank created the platform with small business owners in mind and to give them complete visibility over their operations, enabling them to monitor sales, inventory and staff activities from anywhere.

Also speaking during a panel session, Executive Director, Information Technology and Digitisation at Access Holdings Plc, Lanre Bamisebi, said many business owners wrongly believe digital transformation is all about technology.

According to him, successful digital transformation begins with understanding customers’ needs before choosing the right technology.

“Technology is only an enabler. The first thing is to understand what your customers want and how to serve them better,” he said.

Country Manager, Financial Services Industry at Huawei Nigeria, Glarry Gao, said AI offers SMEs the opportunity to compete with larger companies by helping them understand customers better, improve efficiency and expand their businesses through digital platforms.

…Disburses over N600bn through BoI to support business

By Yinka Kolawole

The Federal Government has captured more than 500,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in a national database as part of efforts to strengthen industrial development, improve policy planning and enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness in regional and global trade. This is even as over N600 billion has been disbursed through the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support businessesMinister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, disclosed this at the 17th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment held in Enugu, where she reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to driving industrialisation, attracting investments and expanding non-oil exports under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

She said the MSME database would provide government with credible information to design targeted interventions, improve access to finance and support business growth, noting that the initiative forms part of broader efforts to build a more competitive and inclusive economy.

Available statistics estimate the number of MSMEs in Nigeria to be over 40 million, many of which operate in the informal sector, accounting for about 48% of the GDP and 86% of national employment. However, the sector faces an estimated N13 trillion credit gap, with businesses heavily impacted by inflation, poor electricity, and a high reliance on personal savings.

Highlighting recent achievements, Oduwole said Nigeria has facilitated more than $50 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) commitments, recorded $6.1 billion in non-oil exports, and disbursed over N600 billion through the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support businesses across critical sectors.

She added that nearly 300,000 Nigerians have also benefited from government-backed skills development programmes aimed at improving workforce capacity and supporting industrial productivity.

According to the minister, the achievements demonstrate tangible progress towards the administration’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy through increased production, investment, exports and job creation.

She said the ministry would continue to prioritise the development of industrial clusters, expansion of manufacturing capacity, investment facilitation, digital trade and the implementation of the National Single Window to ease the cost of doing business.

Oduwole also identified stronger intellectual property protection and deeper participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as critical to improving Nigeria’s export competitiveness and positioning local businesses to take advantage of opportunities across Africa.

She urged agencies under the ministry to ensure that resolutions reached at the council meeting are backed by clear ownership, implementation timelines and measurable performance indicators to guarantee effective execution.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to implementing the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025, noting that the policy would focus on affordable industrial financing, value addition, manufacturing expansion and stronger public-private partnerships to drive sustainable industrial development.