industry-funded retiree healthcare
Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Transcorp, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has said that the PenCare Retiree Healthcare Initiative and the National Minimum Pension Guarantee will address two fundamental concerns of every retiree: access to healthcare and security of income.
Elumelu who stated this while giving his remarks at the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives Launch in Abuja noted that the private sector stands ready to support policies and partnerships that strengthen our institutions.
It will be recalled that Nigeria has started paying a guaranteed minimum pension of N52,500 a month to retirees in the Contributory Pension Scheme, the system of individual retirement accounts for workers. The provision has been in the country’s pension law since 2004 but was never used.
President Bola Tinubu also launched PenCare, a free healthcare plan for low-income retirees that the pension industry pays for. Elumelu called the two programmes “investments in human dignity.”
The Minimum Pension Guarantee takes effect immediately and will be run by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
He particularly praised the pension industry for funding PenCare, calling it “a powerful demonstration of what responsible institutions can achieve when they put people first.”
PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran said 173,209 retirees currently receive less than N52,500 and will be raised to that level. Some had been receiving just over N20,000 a month.
The guarantee is paid from a N400 billion Pension Protection Fund, to which the federal government and the pension industry have contributed. State governments must also pay in before their retirees can benefit.
“If people are not contributing, we’ll run out of funds,” Oloworaran said. She said the N52,500 figure “was not plucked from the air. It has been validated by an actuary and it is subject to review and it is funded.”
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