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, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, stated this at the inaugural National Pension Week Leadership Summit in Abuja, with the theme, “Pensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together.” He stated that President Tinubu views pension as a national obligation, not a favour.
He said, “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. We inherited pension obligations deferred for far too long, with retirees waiting years for accrued rights.”
To reverse the injustice, Tinubu 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.
In a landmark policy shift, the President announced that his administration will finally honour the Minimum Pension Guarantee provision of the Pension Reform Act 2014 – a promise that has never been implemented since enactment over 11 years ago.
“Since enactment, that promise has never been honoured. Under President Tinubu, it will be, He also announced the launch of PenCare, a national retiree wellbeing programme that will begin by giving low-income retirees access to essential healthcare, marking a decisive shift from a system that merely holds savings to one that guarantees a floor of dignity”.
The President said a strong pension system is both a social protection imperative and a strategic pillar of economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda, mobilising long-term domestic savings, deepening financial markets and supporting 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 enforce the law without fear or favour, while charging employers public and private to remit contributions fully and promptly. He noted 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 expertise, diversify responsibly, drive down costs and measure success not by assets under management but by what each contributor ultimately receives, stating that 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 explained 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.
There should be an aggressive push beyond the formal sector, 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.
The President called on State Governments, organised labour and all stakeholders to join hands to expand coverage and deepen compliance, insisting the Summit 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.
He asserted that the true measure of success will not be how much money the system holds. It will be how much security, and how much dignity, it delivers. 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.
The Director General, National Pension Commission, NPC, Omolola Oloworaran explained that, the world is adopting contributory pensions.
At the end of 2024, pension assets across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, will reach a record of almost 70 trillion U.S. dollars.
