…inaugurates PenCare to provide free healthcare services to low-income pensioners
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday raised the minimum pension guarantee for the 173,209 eligible retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme to N52,500 monthly.
The increment brings to an end a 22-year delay in implementing the provision of the Pension Reform Act.
Tinubu also inaugurated the Pension Industry Healthcare Plan for Retirees, known as PenCare, to provide free essential healthcare services to low-income pensioners.
Represented by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu announced the initiatives during the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives ceremony at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
“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 said while declaring the minimum pension guarantee operational.
According to him, the guarantee, first provided for under the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and retained in the 2014 legislation, had remained unimplemented by successive administrations in the country.
“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.
The President urged future administrations to maintain the guarantee, declaring, “Raise it. But never remove the floor.”
He explained that the PenCare initiative would protect vulnerable retirees from medical expenses capable of exhausting their pension savings.
“PenCare gives our low-income retirees access to essential health care without charge,” he said.
He announced that beneficiaries would begin receiving healthcare access cards in the coming months.
Tinubu also 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 said states had spent over N1tn settling pension obligations, attributing their improved financial capacity partly to subsidy removal.
Tinubu, who cited a World Bank report, said states’ revenues increased by about 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the share of their budgets devoted to capital projects rose from 46 to 61 per cent.
He also disclosed 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.
Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, in her opening remarks, announced that the guaranteed minimum pension had been fixed at N52,500 monthly.
“The minimum pension in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is 52,500 naira every month,” she said.
She disclosed that 173,209 retirees qualify for the guarantee, comprising 34 per cent from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment and 54 per cent from the private sector.
The PenCom DG explained that the amount had been actuarially validated and would be subject to periodic review.
“The figure was not plucked from the air. It has been validated by an actuary, and it is subject to review,” she said.
Oloworaran disclosed that more than N400bn was available in the Pension Protection Fund to finance the guarantee, while more than 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently earned below the new threshold.
The PenCom boss also revealed that states inherited over N2trn in pension liabilities, of which N1.07tn had been settled.
On healthcare, she said the pension industry had provided more than N7bn for PenCare after paying premiums covering nearly 30,000 retirees.
Oloworaran further announced plans to expand pension coverage to informal workers, including traders, artisans and farmers.
She disclosed that the pension industry had committed 750m 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.
In his own speech on the occasion, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, 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.
Elumelu pledged private-sector support for partnerships aimed at strengthening retirement security and financial inclusion.
