By Oluwakemi Kindness
A total of 173,209 retirees under Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) will receive a minimum monthly pension of N52,500 under a new guarantee administered by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
President Bola Tinubu declared the Minimum Pension Guarantee Scheme operational on Tuesday, ending a 22-year delay in implementing the provision of the Pension Reform Act.
The scheme is designed to raise the monthly pensions of eligible retirees earning below N52,500 to the guaranteed minimum.
Speaking through Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who represented him at the launch in Abuja, Tinubu said the guarantee would take effect immediately.
He said the provision was first introduced under Section 71 of the Pension Reform Act 2004 and reinforced by Sections 82 and 84 of the 2014 Act, but had remained unimplemented by successive administrations.
The President said the scheme would ensure that contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme would not fall below the guaranteed minimum.
Earlier, PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, said the N52,500 minimum has been validated by an actuary and backed by more than N400 billion in the Pension Protection Fund.
She said the 173,209 eligible retirees comprised 34 per cent from the Federal Government, 12 per cent from state governments and 54 per cent from the private sector.
Oloworaran said more than 65 per cent of private-sector retirees currently earned below the new minimum, making them a significant group of potential beneficiaries.
She, however, said state governments would be required to contribute to the Pension Protection Fund to ensure their retirees benefit from the guarantee.
The PenCom chief said the fund’s sustainability depended on contributions from relevant stakeholders and urged private-sector employers to support its financing.
