Database Administration Practices and Data Integrity in Nigerian Pension Management Companies

Pension fund administration in Nigeria involves the management of retirement savings data for millions of contributors, making data integrity and sound database administration practices a fiduciary and regulatory obligation. This study examines database administration practices and data integrity assurance in pension management companies regulated by the National Pension Commission, with field evidence drawn from three Pension Fund Administrators operating in Lagos, South West Nigeria. A technical assessment approach combined interviews with 18 database administrators and IT managers with a structured review of database configuration documentation, backup logs, and audit trail records. The study evaluates backup and recovery procedures, access control frameworks, data integrity constraint implementations, indexing and performance management practices, and compliance with National Pension Commission ICT guidelines. Findings indicate strong backup discipline across all three organisations but significant variation in access control maturity, with one organisation lacking documented database user privilege reviews. Data integrity constraint implementation was inconsistent, particularly in legacy module tables where orphaned records were identified in two of three organisations. The study proposes a Database Administration Standards Framework for the Nigerian pension administration industry. Recommendations include mandatory annual database security audits, standardised data quality reporting to the National Pension Commission, and capacity building for database administrators. Keywords: database administration, data integrity, pension management, Lagos, National Pension Commission.