A Long-Awaited Safety Net for Retirees
President Bola Tinubu has formally launched a N52,500 monthly minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 eligible retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, bringing to an end a 22-year delay in implementing a provision that has existed in law since the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and was retained in the 2014 legislation. The announcement was made on Tuesday during the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives ceremony held at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, where the President was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Declaring the scheme operational, Tinubu said the authority vested in him as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was being invoked to commence the Minimum Pension Guarantee Scheme. He noted that although successive administrations had failed to implement the provision, his government had chosen to close that gap, stressing that from that day forward there would be a floor beneath every Nigerian retiree. No contributor under the Contributory Pension Scheme, he said, would be allowed to fall below that threshold. He urged future administrations to raise the guarantee rather than remove it, declaring: “Raise it. But never remove the floor.”
PenCare Brings Free Healthcare to Low-Income Pensioners
Alongside the pension guarantee, the President inaugurated the Pension Industry Healthcare Plan for Retirees, known as PenCare, designed to provide free essential healthcare services to low-income pensioners. Tinubu explained that the initiative would shield vulnerable retirees from medical expenses capable of wiping out their pension savings, adding that beneficiaries would begin receiving healthcare access cards in the coming months.
The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, confirmed that the guaranteed minimum pension had been fixed at N52,500 per month. She disclosed that 173,209 retirees qualify for the guarantee, made up of 34 per cent from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment and 54 per cent from the private sector. According to her, the figure was not arrived at arbitrarily but had been actuarially validated and would be subject to periodic review.
Oloworaran further revealed that more than N400bn is available in the Pension Protection Fund to finance the guarantee, while over 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently earn below the new threshold. On healthcare, she said the pension industry had provided more than N7bn for PenCare after paying premiums covering nearly 30,000 retirees. She also noted that states inherited over N2tn in pension liabilities, of which N1.07tn had been settled.
Bond Issued to Clear Arrears as States Settle Obligations
The President disclosed that his administration had issued a N758bn bond to address longstanding pension arrears and approved a N32,000 monthly consequential adjustment for affected federal pensioners. He added that states had spent over N1tn settling pension obligations, attributing their improved financial capacity partly to the removal of the fuel subsidy. Citing a World Bank report, he said states’ revenues rose by about 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the share of their budgets devoted to capital projects climbed from 46 per cent to 61 per cent.
Tinubu also highlighted that government-backed credit initiatives had unlocked over N64bn for 174,000 borrowers, while more than 350,000 Nigerians had accessed approximately N53bn in consumer credit.
Expanding Coverage and Private-Sector Support
Looking ahead, the PenCom Director-General announced plans to extend pension coverage to informal workers, including traders, artisans and farmers. She said the pension industry had committed to a 750 million infrastructure investment platform, with another $50m expected from development partners and initial deployment targeted for the first half of 2027.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions, Hussaini Jallo, described the initiatives as important steps towards addressing retirees’ healthcare needs and income insecurity. He pledged the National Assembly’s support for stronger pension governance, compliance and expanded coverage, particularly for informal-sector workers.
The Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, also commended the initiatives, describing them as investments in the welfare of Nigerians who had completed their working lives. “These are not simply pension reforms. They are investments in human dignity,” he said, while pledging private-sector support for partnerships aimed at strengthening retirement security and financial inclusion.
