The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has disclosed that newspaper organisations in Nigeria owe retired journalists more than N1.3 billion in unpaid pension contributions.
A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday quoted Oloworaran as expressing concern over the widespread non-compliance with the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014) within the media industry. The PenCom DG spoke during a visit to the Nigerian Press Council (NPC).
She stated that PenCom had entered into a strategic partnership with the NPC to urge media organisations to clear their pension liabilities.
“The PRA 2014 mandates employers to remit monthly pension contributions into employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) within seven days of salary payment,” she said.
Oloworaran lamented that many media houses have failed to comply, prompting the deployment of recovery agents to audit their accounts and determine outstanding debts and penalties.
She stressed that journalists deserve to retire with dignity, given their critical role in promoting accountability across both public and private sectors. She urged media organisations to lead by example by meeting their pension obligations.
She also called on the NPC to support advocacy efforts to drive compliance across the sector, noting that pensions are vital to preventing old-age poverty.
“Pension is a key part of our social security system, and even the government has started to treat it more seriously,” she added.
NPC Executive Secretary, Dr. Dili Ezughah, pledged the Council’s support, stating it would escalate the matter to relevant bodies, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
Ezughah acknowledged that failure to remit pensions remains a significant challenge in the media industry.
PenCom has intensified enforcement efforts and is forging strategic partnerships with regulators to recover billions in unpaid pensions. This marks the first time the commission is engaging the media industry at such a high level.
