Over 173,000 Retirees to Benefit as Tinubu Approves Monthly Minimum Pension at N52,500

Ending a 22-year delay under the Pension Reform Act, President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday launched a N52,500 monthly minimum pension for 173,209 Contributory Pension Scheme retirees.

Represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, the President also unveiled PenCare—a healthcare initiative offering free essential medical services to low-income pensioners.

Declaring the minimum pension guarantee operational, he said, ‘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’.

The President explained that the guarantee, first provided for under the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and retained in the 2014 legislation, had remained unimplemented despite 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.

Tinubu urged future administrations to maintain the guarantee, declaring, ‘Raise it. But never remove the floor’.

On healthcare, he said 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, adding that beneficiaries would begin receiving healthcare access cards in the coming months.

The President also disclosed that his administration had issued a N758 billion bond to address longstanding pension arrears and approved a N32,000 monthly consequential adjustment for affected federal pensioners.

He said states had spent over N1 trillion settling pension obligations, attributing their improved financial capacity partly to subsidy removal.

Citing a World Bank report, President Tinubu 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 N64 billion for 174,000 borrowers, while more than 350,000 Nigerians had accessed approximately N53bn in consumer credit.

In her opening remarks, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, announced that the guaranteed minimum pension had been fixed at N52,500 monthly.

‘The minimum pensions in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is 52,500 naira every month’, she said.

According to her, 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.

She 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’, Oloworaran noted.

She disclosed that more than N400 billion 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 N2 trillion in pension liabilities, of which N1.07 trillion had been settled.