When Babatunde lost his job at an engineering company, he was confronted with a reality familiar to thousands of Nigerians because bills would not wait simply because his salary had stopped.
Months of job hunting yielded no success. Rent was due, family responsibilities mounted and savings had nearly disappeared. Then he remembered something many workers under Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) either do not know or rarely consider, they can access part of their retirement savings after losing their jobs.
Four months after becoming unemployed, Babatunde approached his Pension Fund Administrator (PFA). After completing the necessary documentation, he received 25 percent of the balance in his Retirement Savings Account (RSA).
“I would have liked to take more, but my PFA explained that the law only allows me to withdraw up to 25 percent because I had not retired,” he recalled. “It was a huge relief. It helped me survive during one of the most difficult periods of my life.”
Babatunde’s experience reflects the financial safety net built into Nigeria’s pension system, one that is increasingly becoming important as economic uncertainty continues to affect employment.
