The National Pension Commission and the Nigeria Labour Congress Lagos State Council will begin enforcement of compliance on pension defaulters under the Contributory Pension Scheme from June 1, 2026. Funmi Sesi said the move will target government institutions and private companies that deducted workers’ pension contributions but failed to remit them to Pension Fund Administrators.
Sesi disclosed the plan after an interactive session organised by PenCom in Lagos on Tuesday 19 May 2026. The meeting focused on how the Contributory Pension Scheme works and on labour leaders’ compliance duties under the Pension Reform Act, as complaints mounted from workers in both public and private establishments across Lagos.
“It is unacceptable that despite monthly deductions from workers’ salaries, some employers deliberately fail to remit the funds,” Sesi said. She added that the non-remittance of pension contributions amounts to a gross violation of labour laws and an abuse of workers’ trust. The Lagos NLC said it would mobilise affiliate unions against employers refusing to meet their remittance obligations, while PenCom and the union prepare joint monitoring and enforcement efforts.
PenCom’s Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, said deducting workers’ pension contributions without remitting them is a criminal offence under pension law. She was represented by the Head of the Compliance and Enforcement Department, Ahmed Lawan, who told the session that the Contributory Pension Scheme began in June 2004 under the Pension Reform Act and requires a total minimum contribution of 18 per cent of an employee’s monthly emolument. Lawan said the law makes it mandatory for employers to remit pension contributions into individual Retirement Savings Accounts, and that the current president has remitted all outstanding accrued rights in the public sector.
The crackdown reflects how persistent the problem has become in Lagos, where labour leaders say workers in both public and private establishments have complained that employers keep making deductions without sending the money on to PFAs. The union said defaulting employers would face prosecution and public exposure beginning June 1, 2026, and that it would deploy monitoring and enforcement teams across the state with PenCom and other stakeholders.
Sesi said the labour movement would not step back from the fight. “If we need to purchase locks and keys just to ensure compliance and enforcement, we will apply that. We are the voice for the voiceless, the power for workers and the last hope of workers and pensioners,” she said. For employers that have treated pension deductions as optional, June 1 now marks the start of a direct confrontation with regulators and organised labour.
