Tinubu To Implement Minimum Pension Guarantee After 11 Years

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that no Nigerian who has served the nation will be forgotten in retirement, as his administration moves to restore dignity, security and measurable value to the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The President stated this on Thursday 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 (SGF), Senator George Akume.

Delivering the President’s address, themed “Pensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together,” Akume said President Tinubu views pensions as a national obligation, not a favour.

“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,” the President said.

In a statement by the SGF’s spokesman, Yomi Odunuga, President Tinubu disclosed that he inherited pension obligations that had been deferred for far too long, leaving retirees waiting for years to receive their accrued rights.

To reverse this injustice, he approved the 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,” Akume said on behalf of the President.

In a landmark policy shift, the President announced that his administration would finally honour the Minimum Pension Guarantee provision of the Pension Reform Act 2014—a promise that had remained unfulfilled for more than 11 years since the Act was enacted.

“Since enactment, that promise has never been honoured. Under President Tinubu, it will be,” the SGF declared.

He further announced the launch of PenCare, a national retiree well-being programme that will initially provide low-income retirees with access to essential healthcare. The initiative marks a decisive shift from a system that merely holds savings to one that guarantees a minimum standard of dignity.

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. It will help mobilise long-term domestic savings, deepen financial markets and support productive investment.

The President, however, warned that the government could not deliver retirement security alone. He charged the National Pension Commission with remaining firm, fair and forward-looking and enforcing the law without fear or favour. He also charged public and private employers with remitting pension contributions fully and promptly, noting that “to deduct a worker’s contribution and fail to remit it is not an administrative lapse. It is a breach of trust.”

The President challenged Pension Fund Administrators and custodians to deepen their expertise, diversify responsibly, reduce 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 capital security and disciplined growth must go hand in hand.

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 undergo rigorous risk-and-return assessments and serve contributors’ best interests.

President Tinubu also directed an aggressive expansion of pension coverage beyond the formal sector, saying traders, artisans, farmers, transport workers and millions of self-employed Nigerians deserved a realistic pathway to a 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 work together to expand coverage and improve compliance. He insisted that the summit must not end with speeches but produce measurable commitments, including more Nigerians enrolled in the scheme, faster payment of benefits, stronger investment performance, clearer disclosures 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 immense contributions to pension-related issues in the country, the SGF was conferred with the Award of Excellence in Pension Sector Leadership and Support.