President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday formally launched a ₦52,500 monthly minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 eligible retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), ending a 22-year delay in implementing a key provision of Nigeria’s pension laws.
Represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the launch of the Presidential Pension Security Initiative at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, Tinubu declared the scheme operational with immediate effect. He described the guarantee as a legal right of contributors rather than government charity, stating that no eligible retiree under the CPS would be allowed to fall below the new floor.
“Today, I dare say that lie ends here,” he said, referring to the long-unimplemented provisions in the Pension Reform Act 2004 (and retained in the 2014 Act). He directed the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to administer the scheme and urged future governments to raise the floor but never remove it.
PenCom Director-General Omolola Oloworaran announced that the ₦52,500 figure was determined through actuarial validation and will be subject to periodic review. Of the 173,209 beneficiaries, 34 per cent retired from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment, and 54 per cent from the private sector.
More than 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently receive less than the new threshold. Over ₦400 billion is available in the Pension Protection Fund to support the payments, which will begin flowing to qualifying retirees immediately.
Tinubu also unveiled PenCare, a pension industry-funded healthcare initiative that will give low-income retirees free access to essential medical services. He said access cards would be distributed in the coming months, with the first ones to be presented personally at the Villa.
The move fulfils a long-standing statutory requirement that successive administrations had failed to fund or activate, providing a safety net for vulnerable pensioners whose monthly payments had in some cases fallen as low as just above ₦20,000.
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday formally launched a ₦52,500 monthly minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 eligible retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), ending a 22-year delay in implementing a key provision of Nigeria’s pension laws.
Represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the launch of the Presidential Pension Security Initiative at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja, Tinubu declared the scheme operational with immediate effect. He described the guarantee as a legal right of contributors rather than government charity, stating that no eligible retiree under the CPS would be allowed to fall below the new floor.
“Today, I dare say that lie ends here,” he said, referring to the long-unimplemented provisions in the Pension Reform Act 2004 (and retained in the 2014 Act). He directed the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to administer the scheme and urged future governments to raise the floor but never remove it.
PenCom Director-General Omolola Oloworaran announced that the ₦52,500 figure was determined through actuarial validation and will be subject to periodic review. Of the 173,209 beneficiaries, 34 per cent retired from federal service, 12 per cent from state employment, and 54 per cent from the private sector.
More than 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently receive less than the new threshold. Over ₦400 billion is available in the Pension Protection Fund to support the payments, which will begin flowing to qualifying retirees immediately.
Tinubu also unveiled PenCare, a pension industry-funded healthcare initiative that will give low-income retirees free access to essential medical services. He said access cards would be distributed in the coming months, with the first ones to be presented personally at the Villa.
The move fulfils a long-standing statutory requirement that successive administrations had failed to fund or activate, providing a safety net for vulnerable pensioners whose monthly payments had in some cases fallen as low as just above ₦20,000.
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