The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has revealed that newspaper organisations are owing over ₦1.3 billion in unpaid pension contributions for journalists.
The Director General of PenCom, Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this during a visit to the Nigerian Press Council in Abuja. She raised concerns about widespread non-compliance with the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014) across media establishments.
In response, PenCom and the Nigerian Press Council have entered into a strategic collaboration aimed at compelling newspaper organisations to settle their outstanding pension liabilities.
The PRA 2014 mandates employers to remit monthly pension contributions into employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) within seven days after salary payments. However, according to Oloworaran, many media houses have consistently failed to meet this obligation. PenCom has consequently deployed Recovery Agents to audit defaulting organisations, quantify outstanding debts, and calculate applicable penalties.
Oloworaran noted that the Commission has intensified efforts to recover unpaid pension contributions across various sectors, but the focus on the media industry marks a significant development. It is the first time PenCom is engaging the sector at such a high level to address lingering pension issues.
“Journalists deserve to retire with dignity,” Oloworaran said, stressing that media professionals play a crucial role in promoting accountability across the public and private sectors. She urged media organisations to lead by example by fully complying with their pension obligations.
She also appealed for the Nigerian Press Council’s support in advocating pension compliance, describing pension contributions as a key safeguard against old age poverty. “Pension is a vital component of our social security system, and even the government is now taking it more seriously,” she added.
In his response, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council, Dr. Dili Ezughah, pledged the Council’s full support in addressing the issue.
Dr. Ezughah stated that the matter would be escalated to key stakeholders, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors, emphasizing the severe impact of unpaid pensions on journalists’ welfare. He described the persistent failure of media organisations to remit pension contributions as a major challenge facing the Nigerian media industry.
The engagement concluded with the establishment of a joint working group comprising representatives of PenCom and the Nigerian Press Council to ensure the speedy resolution of the issue.
