The Founder of Mutual Specialists, Adetola Adegbayi, has outlined practical steps to help Nigerians achieve a secure and fulfilling retirement despite prevailing economic challenges. Speaking as the Keynote Speaker at a Retirement Summit in Lagos, Adegbayi urged financial professionals to extend their expertise broadly across the population, emphasizing the importance of sound financial management, investment planning, and critical decision-making.
Under the summit’s theme, “Attaining Good Retirement Amid Economic Headwinds,” she stressed the need for genuine financial educators rather than mere product sales agents. “There should be personal finance experts to effectively educate the public, as against product sales agents who are keen on just selling products. There should be financial risk management experts and not promoters of pseudo gambling,” she asserted. Adegbayi called for stronger financial structuring and education, warning against financial swindling and superficial salesmanship. She also introduced a 30-30-30-10 rule for managing finances—allocating portions of active life earnings toward living expenses, discretionary spending, savings, and debt repayment, alongside a retirement plan diversified across bonds, stocks, real estate, and cash.
Advocating for a national wealth management initiative, she urged calculated, patriotic risk-taking, contrasting it with self-serving budget practices driven by greed.
At the same event, Leadway Pensure’s representatives emphasized the urgent need to integrate Nigeria’s informal sector into pension schemes early to ensure financial security and reduce retirement poverty. Mr. Olugbenga Oriowo, Head of the High Networth Clients Unit at Leadway Pensure, representing the Executive Director of Sales & Investment, reinforced this call, highlighting the vast gap in pension coverage.
Oriowo poignantly noted, “While Nigeria’s informal sector comprises an estimated 75 million individuals, representing a significant economic force, only a fraction, roughly 0.23% as of February 2025, are currently enrolled in the Micro Pension Scheme. These are our friends, family members, drivers, and domestic workers. The key question to collectively address is: What happens when these individuals reach their elderly years without a financial safety net?”
He warned that without proactive efforts to educate and promote micro pension enrollment, widespread poverty in old age would burden future generations. “It is incumbent upon all stakeholders to drive this essential financial literacy and inclusion,” he emphasized. Oriowo acknowledged regulators’ and PFAs’ ongoing work to simplify contributions through digital platforms and seamless remittance options.
Discussions at the summit highlighted a troubling contrast between billions spent annually on speculative activities like betting and the low uptake of micro pension accounts. Despite a target to enroll eight million participants by 2024, only about 77,689 contributors had registered by April 2022—just 1% of the goal—underscoring the urgent need to shift focus toward sustainable retirement savings.
Leadway Pensure reiterated its commitment to advancing financial literacy and inclusion, especially within the informal sector, by simplifying enrollment requirements to just a National Identity Number and a valid ID. They also leverage technology, including USSD codes, to make pension contributions more accessible, helping more Nigerians build a comfortable and financially independent retirement.
The summit echoed a timeless truth: “If you pay the price, you will get the value.” Stakeholders agreed that strategic financial planning, marked by delayed gratification and calculated risks, must start early to ensure a good retirement. Other industry voices also highlighted the importance of early planning and financial prudence as essential tools for securing one’s financial future.