Tinubu unveils free healthcare for pensioners

ABUJA — President Bola Tinubu has unveiled PenCare, a national healthcare initiative designed to provide free medical services to pensioners, beginning with low-income retirees.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, at the opening of the National Pension Week in Abuja on Thursday, said the initiative formed part of his administration’s welfare package for senior citizens.

PenCare is designed as a national retiree well-being programme aimed at improving access to essential healthcare, particularly for pensioners with limited financial resources.

In his address, themed “Pensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together,” the President said a strong pension system was both a social protection necessity and a pillar of economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

He said the pension system could also mobilise long-term domestic savings, deepen financial markets and support productive investments.

Tinubu described pensions as an obligation to workers who had served the country, rather than a favour from the government.

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“A pension is not a favour granted by 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,” he said.

He added that the success of the pension system should be measured by the security and dignity it provided retirees, rather than the volume of funds accumulated.

“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,” he said.

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The President said his administration had taken steps to restore dignity, security and value to the Contributory Pension Scheme.

He also said he had approved a N758 billion 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,” Tinubu said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has insisted that the June 30, 2027 deadline for pension fund administrators and custodians to complete their recapitalisation remains unchanged.

Oloworaran said the exercise was necessary to strengthen institutions responsible for safeguarding the retirement savings of millions of Nigerian workers.

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“We are not changing our minds. The industry must move beyond the growth in pension assets to building institutions strong enough to safeguard the savings of millions of Nigerian workers.

“Size is what we have achieved. Strength is what we now demand,” she said.

Three million active pension accounts

The PenCom director-general also disclosed that the commission was working to expand the Contributory Pension Scheme beyond formally employed workers to cover traders, artisans, farmers and commercial transport operators through the Personal Pension Plan (PPP).

She said pension industry operators had committed to working with the commission to open at least three million new funded and active pension accounts within one year.

“Not registrations, three million funded active accounts, new accounts, because an empty account is a statistic, but a funded account is a future,” she said.

Oloworaran further announced plans to implement the Minimum Pension Guarantee, designed to provide a measure of financial protection for vulnerable retirees.

She said PenCom was also working to address the adequacy of pension benefits, particularly among private-sector workers whose retirement payments could fall below the national minimum wage.

According to her, almost 70 per cent of private-sector employees retire with pensions below the national minimum wage, while more than 55 per cent of all retirees receiving pensions below that threshold come from the private sector.

She urged private-sector employers to calculate pension contributions using a more realistic earnings base and support the Pension Protection Fund.

Oloworaran said businesses had a responsibility to help protect the workers whose contributions and efforts generated their profits.

She added that pension funds could support national development by financing infrastructure, housing, power and enterprises, provided investments were prudent and made in the best interests of contributors.

The commission, she said, was reviewing regulations to facilitate such investments while safeguarding pension contributors’ funds.