President Bola Tinubu has challenged Nigerians to evaluate his administration based on its achievements, insisting that his performance in office should determine whether he deserves another term in the 2027 presidential election.

The President made the remarks on Tuesday in Abuja while announcing the commencement of a N52,500 monthly minimum pension guarantee for 173,209 retirees.

He also unveiled a free healthcare programme for low-income pensioners, describing the initiatives as the fulfilment of a 22-year-old legal provision that successive administrations had failed to implement.

The announcement was made during the launch of the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu challenged opposition politicians seeking to replace him in the January 2027 presidential election to present their records on pension welfare rather than relying on campaign promises.

He said Nigerians should assess his leadership based on what his administration had accomplished, recalling his experience as governor of Lagos State when federal allocations to local governments were withheld without causing the state or its councils to collapse.

According to him, his administration has increased pension payments, addressed outstanding obligations and introduced credit support mechanisms to guarantee a minimum level of retirement income.

Tinubu also challenged opposition figures to explain what they accomplished for pensioners during their previous periods in public office, questioning which retirees benefited from minimum pension guarantees and healthcare insurance under their leadership.

The President defended his administration’s 2023 removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market, describing the decisions as necessary measures taken in the country’s overall interest.

He maintained that although the decisions attracted criticism, he considered them essential reforms that previous administrations had avoided because of their political implications.

Tinubu further argued that the financial resources saved from subsidy removal had been redirected towards state governments and ordinary Nigerians.

Referencing an October 2026 World Bank report, he disclosed that state government revenues increased by 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the proportion of state budgets allocated to capital expenditure rose from 46 per cent to 61 per cent.

He added that state governments had utilised part of the increased resources to settle outstanding pension obligations, with more than N1 trillion reportedly paid in accumulated pension arrears.

On access to credit, Tinubu revealed that the National Credit Guarantee Company had facilitated N64bn in loans for more than 174,000 beneficiaries within slightly over a year.

He noted that thousands of the beneficiaries had never previously accessed formal credit facilities.

He also disclosed that the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation had provided N53bn in loans to over 350,000 Nigerians across the country’s 774 local government areas, with women accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the beneficiaries.

Regarding the minimum pension guarantee, Tinubu explained that provisions in the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and its 2014 amendment had promised contributors a guaranteed minimum pension but remained unimplemented across four successive administrations.

He declared that his government had now commenced the implementation of the provision through the National Pension Commission.

The President also introduced PenCare, a healthcare initiative financed by the pension industry to provide free access to essential medical services for low-income retirees.

At the event, pension access cards were symbolically presented, with Tinubu promising to personally distribute the first set of PenCare cards to beneficiaries at the Presidential Villa in the coming months.

The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, disclosed that the N52,500 minimum pension guarantee had been validated by an actuary and supported by more than N400bn in the Pension Protection Fund.

She explained that payments would commence immediately for all 173,209 eligible retirees whose monthly pensions fall below the approved threshold.

Oloworaran stated that 54 per cent of the beneficiaries were retirees from the private sector, adding that more than 65 per cent of private-sector pensioners currently received less than N52,500 monthly.

She urged private-sector employers to contribute to the Pension Protection Fund, stressing that wider participation would be necessary to sustain the initiative.

She also announced that the pension industry had entered into a partnership with FSD Africa to establish a $750m infrastructure investment fund.

According to her, $200m had already been committed by the pension industry, while another $50m was expected from development partners as the initial $250m funding package. Deployment is expected to begin before the end of the first quarter of 2027.

Responding to concerns that the timing of the pension initiatives, coming weeks before the presidential election, could be politically motivated, Oloworaran dismissed suggestions that the programme was designed to improve Tinubu’s re-election prospects.

She maintained that the commission’s reforms had been ongoing since July 2024 and were not influenced by electoral considerations.

She cited previous pension adjustments, including a N32,000 consequential increase and improved payments for retirees under the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, as examples of reforms implemented outside election periods.

Oloworaran further explained that the launch had initially been scheduled for September but was postponed to October following requests from industry stakeholders before Tuesday’s date was eventually selected.

She insisted that the commission remained focused on its statutory responsibilities rather than political competition.

However, she acknowledged that the commission’s achievements could provide Nigerians with additional information when assessing the President’s performance ahead of the next election.

On eligibility, she reiterated that every qualified retiree under the Contributory Pension Scheme earning below N52,500 would have their monthly pension increased to the approved minimum, irrespective of whether they retired from the public or private sector.

She clarified that the N1.07tn in outstanding pension obligations already settled by state governments was funded by the states themselves, rather than the Federal Government.

According to her, increased allocations following the removal of fuel subsidy had provided state governments with additional resources to meet their pension responsibilities.

Addressing reports that some retirees in certain states still received as little as N5,000 monthly, Oloworaran described such payments as unacceptable.

She disclosed that the commission was engaging state governments to encourage participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme, contributions to the Pension Protection Fund and reviews of retirement benefits to reflect inflation.

She explained that states must contribute to the Pension Protection Fund before their retirees can benefit from the minimum pension guarantee, adding that discussions were ongoing to establish the necessary arrangements.

On the PenCare programme, she revealed that implementation had already commenced before its official launch, with approximately 25,000 to 30,000 healthcare access cards distributed to low-income pensioners during the pilot phase.