President Bola Tinubu has launched a N52,500 monthly minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 eligible retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, bringing an end to a 22-year delay in implementing the provision of the Pension Reform Act.
The President also unveiled the Pension Industry Healthcare Plan for Retirees, known as PenCare, which is designed to provide free essential healthcare services to low-income pensioners.
Represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu announced the initiatives at the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives ceremony held at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja on Tuesday.
While declaring the Minimum Pension Guarantee Scheme operational, the President said, “By the authority vested in me as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I hereby declare the Minimum Pension Guarantee Scheme commenced.”
He explained that the provision was first introduced in the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and retained in the 2014 legislation but had not been implemented by previous administrations.
“From this day, there is a floor beneath the Nigerian retiree. No one who contributed under the Contributory Pension Scheme will ever be allowed to fall below,” he stated.
Tinubu also called on future administrations to sustain the initiative, stressing, “Raise it. But never remove the floor.”
Addressing the healthcare component, the President said PenCare would shield vulnerable retirees from medical costs that could deplete their pension savings.
“PenCare gives our low-income retirees access to essential health care without charge,” he said, adding that beneficiaries would begin receiving healthcare access cards in the coming months.
The President further disclosed that his administration had issued a N758bn bond to clear longstanding pension arrears and approved a N32,000 monthly consequential adjustment for affected federal pensioners.
He added that state governments had spent more than N1tn on settling pension obligations, noting that the removal of fuel subsidy had partly strengthened their financial capacity.
Tinubu, citing a World Bank report, said state revenues grew by approximately 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the proportion of state budgets allocated to capital projects increased from 46 to 61 per cent.
He also revealed that government-backed credit programmes had made over N64bn available to 174,000 borrowers, while more than 350,000 Nigerians had accessed approximately N53bn in consumer credit.
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, announced that the minimum pension guarantee had been set at N52,500 per month.
“The minimum pensions in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is 52,500 naira every month,” she said.
Oloworaran stated that 173,209 retirees were eligible for the scheme, with federal retirees accounting for 34 per cent, state employees 12 per cent and private-sector workers 54 per cent.
She explained that the amount had undergone actuarial validation and would be reviewed periodically.
“The figure was not plucked from the air. It has been validated by an actuary, and it is subject to review,” she noted.
The PenCom Director-General further disclosed that more than N400bn was available in the Pension Protection Fund to finance the guarantee. She added that over 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently received pensions below the newly established threshold.
She also revealed that state governments inherited pension liabilities exceeding N2tn, out of which N1.07tn had been settled.
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Edited by: Alabi Eyitayo
