Federal government on Tuesday flagged off “Pencare”, aimed at providing easier access to healthcare facilities by retirees.
President Bola Tinubu, while launching the program developed by the National Pension Commission PenCom, said the plans will give retirees, especially those on low-income, greater access to essential healthcare without charge.
The President who was represented by Godswill Akpabio, the President of Senate, gave out the first set of Pencare health access card to first set of beneficiaries.
“For the first time in Nigerian history, the Nigerian retiree pulls two things at once: an income that cannot fall below the floor, and a card that opens the door of a hospital. That is social security. This country talked about it for 60 years, and action is being taken now,” he said.
“We are starting it for the ordinary Nigeria. Now let us talk about the people who want this job. Do not listen to what they promise. Promises are free. Look at what they did when they were in power in the past.”
Akpabio described the reforms at the PenCom as part of the ongoing reforms embarked upon by President Tinubu, on the 29th of May, 2023, when he removed Subsidy of Petroleum products
He commended the President for taking the bold decision, adding that ” a leader who is afraid of the truth has no business asking for your mandate. I hope Nigerians are listening”.
According to Akpabio, “a leader who is afraid of telling the truth has no business coming to your state, your local government, your constituency to ask for your mandate. We unified the exchange rates. We shut down a fraud dressed up as a favor to the poor.
“We chose to carry the pain ourselves rather than send the bills to our children and future generations, and then we sat down to think and commence the business of rebuilding Nigeria”.
Akpabio noted that as part of the reforms, “the lowest income earners in the country, now pay nothing. Food, medicine, and education are no longer taxed in Nigeria.
He said the Tinubu’s administration also rewrote the tax laws that had existed since 1939, adding that ” we unbolted a door that had been shut against the ordinary Nigerian for 60 years- Credit.
The Senate President stressed that prior to the emergence of the Tinubu’s administration, the welders, the tailors and market women, “were prevented from having access to credit facilities by th banks and other financial institutions.
“No loan for them. So we built the National Credit Guarantee Company. When a Nigerian with a sound business and no collateral walks into any bank, that company now stands behind the loan.”
” In little more than a year, over 64 billion naira was unlocked for more than 174,000 borrowers.We built credit corp, the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation.
“More than 350,000 Nigerians in every one of our 774 local governments, or let’s say our 774 local governments, have taken over 53 billion naira in credit for a tricycle, a vehicle, and for tools of trade. Nearly six in 10 of them are women.”
Akpabio while noting that Section 71 of the Pension Reform Act promised every contributor a guaranteed minimum pension, in 2004, added that the sections 82 and 84 of the 2014 ammended Act, made that promise again and created a fund to pay for it.
” In 22 years, four presidents are gone before my emergence, the laws were not implemented. Not one naira paid under that guarantee. Not one retiree was given a floor. Not one government has stopped to ask what happened to those pensioners when their household bills arrive their home”
Akpabio said a “law that is never implemented is not a law. It is a lie with a stamp on it, today I dare say that lie ends here today.
Read also: Tinubu pledges reliable power, more jobs, industrial growth, if reelected
“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. Speaking with respect from today to be administered by the National Pension Commission under the Pension Reform Act. From this day, there is a law
“A serious country pays what it owes to every administration that comes after me. Any administration that comes after mine now, hear me clearly.
“This is now part of the compact between the Nigerian state and the Nigerian worker ”
He noted that “One illness at 68 years can swallow 40 years of saving, and leave the children to carry the burden of what remains thereafter. A pension that cannot pay for medicine is not a pension; it is a receipt. So today, I also launched PennCare, funded by the pension industry.
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