Tinubu Vows To Honour Minimum Pension Guarantee, Unveils PenCare For Retirees
By Sunday Etuka
The Federal Government will, for the first time since 2014, implement the Minimum Pension Guarantee provision of the Pension Reform Act, President Bola Tinubu, announced on Thursday, as he also unveiled a healthcare programme for low-income retirees.
The President made the announcement at the inaugural National Pension Week Leadership Summit held at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
He was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
Delivering the President’s address, themed “Pensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together,” Akume said the guarantee had never been honoured in the more than 11 years since the law was enacted. “Under President Tinubu, it will be,” he declared.
The SGF also announced the launch of PenCare, a national retiree wellbeing programme that will begin by giving low-income retirees access to essential healthcare. The President said the move marks a decisive shift from a system that merely holds savings to one that guarantees a floor of dignity.
Akume said President Tinubu sees pension as a national obligation, not a favour. “A pension is not a favour granted by the Government. It is a wage earned, deferred and held in trust. It is a promise. And this Administration has resolved that the promise will be kept,” the President said.
The President disclosed that he inherited pension obligations that had been deferred for far too long, with retirees waiting years for accrued rights. To reverse the injustice, he approved the N758B Federal Government Pension Bond to settle accrued pension rights and strengthen the Pension Protection Fund.
“That was not an accounting exercise. It was an act of restitution to Nigerians who served their country and were made to wait for what they had earned,” Akume said on behalf of the President.
According to President Tinubu, a strong pension system is both a social protection imperative and a strategic pillar of economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda. He said it mobilises long-term domestic savings, deepens financial markets and supports productive investment.
The President, however, warned that the government cannot deliver retirement security alone. He charged the National Pension Commission to remain firm, fair and forward-looking and to enforce the law without fear or favour.
He also urged employers, public and private, to remit contributions fully and promptly, noting that failing to remit a worker’s deducted contribution “is not an administrative lapse. It is a breach of trust.”
Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians were challenged to deepen expertise, diversify responsibly, drive down costs and measure success not by assets under management but by what each contributor ultimately receives.
“Preservation without growth is a slow erosion. Retirement savings that fail to keep pace with inflation quietly betray the very people who saved them,” the President cautioned, insisting that security of capital and disciplined growth must go together.
He stressed that while pension assets should help build Nigeria through infrastructure and productive enterprise, national development must never come at the expense of pensioners. Every investment, he said, must pass rigorous tests of risk and return and serve contributors’ best interests.
President Tinubu also directed an aggressive push beyond the formal sector. He said traders, artisans, farmers, transport workers and millions of self-employed Nigerians deserve a realistic pathway to secure old age through the Personal Pension Plan and new distribution channels.
“Pensions for All must mean exactly that: all,” he said.
He called on State Governments, organised labour and all stakeholders to join hands to expand coverage and deepen compliance.
The Summit, he insisted, must not end in speeches but in measurable commitments: more Nigerians enrolled, faster payment of benefits, stronger investment performance, clearer disclosure and more dignified outcomes.
“The true measure of our success will not be how much money the system holds. It will be how much security, and how much dignity, it delivers,” President Tinubu declared.
“Above all, no Nigerian who has served this nation will be forgotten in retirement. Nigeria will keep faith with those who kept faith with Nigeria.”
In recognition of his contribution to pension issues in the country, the SGF was conferred with the award of Excellence in Pension Sector Leadership and Support.
