Tinubu to Launch Minimum Pension Guarantee, PenCare

BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will launch the Minimum Pension Guarantee (MPG) and PenCare during the National Pension Week, scheduled for October 26 to 30, 2026.

The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed this on Tuesday at the 2026 media conference in Lagos, saying both initiatives are aimed at improving the welfare of workers and retirees.

Speaking on the president’s role, she said: “Our president is a pro-worker and pro-retiree president, and the record proves it. History will remember this as the administration that turned Nigeria’s pension promise into Nigeria’s pension reality.”

She added: “After reflecting on pension reforms from the very beginning of the system in Nigeria, the president stands out as one of the most pro-worker and pro-retiree leaders the country has had.”

On the MPG, she said it will set a baseline income for retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), making sure no pensioner receives less than a stipulated minimum in retirement. She said the guarantee has been in the pension law for more than a decade but never took effect.

The DG explained that the MPG will work alongside PenCare, a programme that aims to offer free health insurance to low-income retirees aged 60 and above who earn monthly pensions of ₦150,000 or less.

She added that the pilot stage will first reach roughly 30,000 retirees, after which it will be scaled up across the country.

Oloworaran noted that the reforms show retirement security should extend beyond regular pension payouts to include healthcare access and protection against poverty in old age.

“No Nigerian should retire into poverty, and no Nigerian should retire into ill health,” she said.