Tinubu activates N52,500 minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 retirees, launches PenCare

Nike Popoola

After more than two decades of waiting, eligible Nigerian retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are set to benefit from a guaranteed minimum monthly pension of N52,500 following its formal activation by President Bola Tinubu.

The President also unveiled a healthcare initiative, the Pension Industry Healthcare Plan (PenCare), which will provide free access to essential medical services for low-income pensioners.

The two initiatives, aimed at improving retirement security and protecting vulnerable pensioners, were announced at the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives ceremony held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, on Tuesday.

Tinubu, who was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, said the Minimum Pension Guarantee fulfilled a provision of the Pension Reform Act 2004, which was retained in the 2014 legislation but remained unimplemented for 22 years.

Declaring the scheme operational, the President assured pension contributors that the government would no longer allow eligible retirees to fall below the guaranteed income threshold.

“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 said.

He urged successive administrations to sustain and increase the guaranteed amount rather than discontinue the policy.

In her remarks, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed that 173,209 retirees qualified for the N52,500 monthly guarantee.

She said the beneficiaries comprised 34 per cent of retirees from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment and 54 per cent from the private sector.

According to her, the amount was determined through actuarial validation and would be reviewed periodically. She added that more than N400bn was available in the Pension Protection Fund to support the initiative.

Oloworaran noted that over 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently received pensions below the newly established threshold.

On PenCare, Tinubu said the initiative would protect vulnerable retirees from medical expenses that could exhaust their retirement savings. Beneficiaries are expected to receive healthcare access cards in the coming months.

Oloworaran disclosed that the pension industry had committed more than N7bn to the programme, with insurance premiums already paid to cover nearly 30,000 retirees.

The President also revealed that his administration had issued a N758bn bond to address outstanding 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.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, described the initiatives as investments in human dignity, pledging private-sector support for efforts to strengthen retirement security and financial inclusion.