President Bola Tinubu has approved a N52,500 monthly minimum pension for 173,209 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, ending a 22-year delay in implementing the guarantee.
The initiative, alongside a free healthcare scheme for low-income pensioners, was launched on Tuesday at the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives ceremony held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
Tinubu, who was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, said the Minimum Pension Guarantee was designed to prevent retirees from falling below a specified income threshold.
He said the provision, first introduced in the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and retained in the 2014 legislation, had remained unimplemented by successive 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 said.
Declaring the scheme operational, Tinubu urged future administrations to sustain the initiative.
“Raise it. But never remove the floor,” he said.
The President also inaugurated the Pension Industry Healthcare Plan for Retirees, known as PenCare, to provide free essential healthcare services to vulnerable pensioners.
He said the initiative would shield low-income retirees from medical expenses that could deplete their pension savings, adding that beneficiaries would begin receiving healthcare access cards in the coming months.
“PenCare gives our low-income retirees access to essential health care without charge,” he said.
Tinubu further 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 state governments had collectively spent over N1tn settling pension obligations, attributing their improved financial capacity partly to the removal of the petrol subsidy.
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Citing a World Bank report, the President said states’ revenues increased by about 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the share of their budgets allocated to capital projects rose from 46 per cent to 61 per cent.
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, said the N52,500 minimum pension had been actuarially validated and would be subject to periodic review.
She said the 173,209 eligible retirees comprised 34 per cent from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment and 54 per cent from the private sector.
“The figure was not plucked from the air. It has been validated by an actuary, and it is subject to review,” Oloworaran said.
She disclosed that more than N400bn was available in the Pension Protection Fund to finance the guarantee.
According to her, over 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently receive pensions below the new minimum threshold.
Oloworaran also revealed that state governments inherited more than N2trn in pension liabilities, of which N1.07trn had been settled.
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