{"id":3474,"date":"2026-10-29T15:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/tinubu-unveils-free-healthcare-for-pensioners\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T15:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:53:07","slug":"tinubu-unveils-free-healthcare-for-pensioners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/tinubu-unveils-free-healthcare-for-pensioners\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu unveils free healthcare for pensioners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tinubu<\/p>\n

\u2026As PenCom insists on June 2027 recapitalisation deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026No pensioner will be abandoned \u2014 Oloworaran<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief<\/strong><\/p>\n

ABUJA \u2014 President Bola Tinubu has unveiled PenCare, a national healthcare initiative designed to provide free medical services to pensioners, beginning with low-income retirees.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s welfare package for senior citizens.<\/p>\n

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

In his address, themed \u201cPensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together,\u201d the President said a strong pension system was both a social protection necessity and a pillar of economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda.<\/p>\n

He said the pension system could also mobilise long-term domestic savings, deepen financial markets and support productive investments.<\/p>\n

Tinubu described pensions as an obligation to workers who had served the country, rather than a favour from the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, no Nigerian who has served this nation will be forgotten in retirement. Nigeria will keep faith with those who kept faith with Nigeria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President said his administration had taken steps to restore dignity, security and value to the Contributory Pension Scheme.<\/p>\n

He also said he had approved a N758 billion Federal Government Pension Bond to settle accrued pension rights and strengthen the Pension Protection Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat 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,\u201d Tinubu said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Oloworaran said the exercise was necessary to strengthen institutions responsible for safeguarding the retirement savings of millions of Nigerian workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSize is what we have achieved. Strength is what we now demand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Three million active pension accounts<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot registrations, three million funded active accounts, new accounts, because an empty account is a statistic, but a funded account is a future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Oloworaran further announced plans to implement the Minimum Pension Guarantee, designed to provide a measure of financial protection for vulnerable retirees.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

She urged private-sector employers to calculate pension contributions using a more realistic earnings base and support the Pension Protection Fund.<\/p>\n

Oloworaran said businesses had a responsibility to help protect the workers whose contributions and efforts generated their profits.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The commission, she said, was reviewing regulations to facilitate such investments while safeguarding pension contributors\u2019 funds.<\/p>\n

\n

The post Tinubu unveils free healthcare for pensioners<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026As PenCom insists on June 2027 recapitalisation deadline \u2026No pensioner will be abandoned \u2014 Oloworaran By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief ABUJA \u2014 President Bola Tinubu has unveiled PenCare, a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}