Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has approved the immediate commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for the state’s public service workforce, with the official implementation scheduled to take effect from July 1, 2026.

The major policy shift was announced through a formal administrative circular issued by the Chairman of the Oyo State Pensions Board, Hon. Tunji Adekunle. Signed and distributed by the Permanent Secretary of the Post-Service Board, Rev. Victor Adesola, the directive serves to officially notify all institutional stakeholders, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as subnational civil and public servants across the state, of the immediate takeoff of the scheme.

The transition to the Contributory Pension Scheme represents a structural overhaul of Oyo State’s public sector retirement framework, moving away from the traditional, fiscally strained Defined Benefit Scheme. Under the newly activated CPS model, both the state government and individual public servants will co-fund retirement portfolios through mandatory, structured monthly deductions from employees’ salaries matched by employer contributions.

This systemic adjustment aligns Oyo State with national pension standards regulated by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and aims to establish a more transparent, sustainable, and legally protected funding stream for workers’ future retirement benefits.

State officials emphasized that introducing the CPS is a proactive measure designed to permanently eliminate the perennial budget bottlenecks, funding uncertainties, and severe accumulation of unpaid gratuities that have historically plagued retirees under older pension models. By ring-fencing worker retirement funds within individual Retirement Savings Accounts managed by licensed Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), the administration aims to guarantee prompt post-service payouts, reduce future long-term fiscal liabilities on the state treasury, and safeguard the economic dignity of civil servants upon exit from active service.