By Anthony isibor
WHEN President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved a ₦758 billion Treasury Bond in February 2025 to clear outstanding pension liabilities and wage arrears dating back to 2004, it was sold to Nigerians as a comprehensive rescue package for long-suffering federal retirees.
But 10 months later, as payments finally began in December, a disturbing reality emerged: retirees from over 25 federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, had been quietly excluded from the scheme.
This exclusion of retirees from more than 25 federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from the ₦758 billion pension bond did not happen through a public policy announcement, legislative amendment, or presidential directive. Instead, it unfolded through a series of quiet administrative steps that effectively shut out affected retirees without notice or public scrutiny.
Among the affected institutions are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, ironically, agencies charged with enforcing accountability and transparency.
The decision, taken by the National Pension Commission, PENCOM, was justified on the grounds that the affected MDAs are “self-accounting” or “self-funded,” only after the bond was raised. Yet for thousands of retirees, who have waited decades for pension adjustments and arrears, the explanation raises more questions than answers.
At the heart of the controversy is a fundamental question: what happens to the money meant for those now excluded?
If the ₦758 billion bond presented to the President was calculated to cover all eligible federal retirees, the exemption of a significant number of beneficiaries inevitably creates a surplus. PENCOM has not publicly disclosed the value of this surplus, nor explained whether the funds will be returned, reallocated or absorbed elsewhere.
Financial transparency advocates warn that any pension intervention lacking a clear accounting framework opens the door to misuse and institutional abuse.
Equally alarming is the manner in which the exemption was implemented. Retirees from the affected agencies say they were never informed formally or informally until payments commenced in December and they discovered they were not on the beneficiary list.
Why were retirees allowed to wait in hope for months, only to be excluded at the point of payment? Why was no circular, notice, or public explanation issued before disbursement began?
The silence has left many pensioners feeling deceived and abandoned by the very system meant to protect them.
PENCOM’s justification that the agencies are self-funded has come under scrutiny. Retirees insist they suffered the same unpaid pension increases and wage adjustments between 2004 and 2025 as other federal workers now benefiting from the bond.
If these agencies were truly self-funded, critics ask, why did pension liabilities accumulate for over two decades? And why are retirees now being excluded from a federal intervention meant to correct those very failures?
More troubling is the absence of any clear alternative arrangement. PENCOM has yet to publicly outline how retirees from the exempt agencies will be paid, or when.
Where Is the Pensioners’ Union?
Attention has also shifted to the National Union of Pensioners, NUP, headquartered at Wuse Zone, Abuja. Retirees want to know what steps the union has taken to challenge the exclusion and engage PENCOM, the Presidency and the Debt Management Office.
For a union mandated to defend the welfare of pensioners nationwide, the apparent lack of visible action has fueled frustration and suspicion among affected retirees.
The ₦758 billion pension bond was meant to signal a new era of fairness and justice for retirees. Instead, it has exposed deep cracks in pension administration opaque decision-making, poor communication and selective inclusion.
As the Federal Government continues to trumpet pension reforms, the unanswered questions remain stark:
Who approved the exclusion of over 25 MDAs?
How much money is left unaccounted for?
What guarantees exist that exempted retirees will not be permanently denied relief?
Until PENCOM provides clear, verifiable answers, the ₦758 billion pension intervention risks becoming not a symbol of reform, but another chapter in Nigeria’s long history of pension betrayal.
A.I
Dec. 25, 2025
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