Tinubu launches free healthcare and pension guarantee for Nigerian retirees

The federal government launched the Pencare programme on Tuesday to give retirees easier access to healthcare facilities. President Bola Tinubu said the initiative, developed by the National Pension Commission, will provide essential healthcare free of charge to low-income pensioners.

Tinubu was represented at the Aso Rock Villa event in Abuja by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. Akpabio handed out the first Pencare health access cards to the first group of beneficiaries.

“Please judge me by my record in this election.”

The government also began a minimum pension guarantee of 52,500 naira per month for 173,209 retirees. Tinubu said this fulfilled a 22-year-old legal promise that four previous presidents had left unmet.

Akpabio defended the 2023 removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of exchange rates. He said the administration chose to carry the economic pain itself rather than pass the bills to future generations.

Tinubu challenged opposition politicians to be judged by their records on pension delivery rather than campaign promises. He asked which retirees they had guaranteed, which pensioners they had insured, and which income floor they had built.

The president said no previous leader had dared to declare that subsidy is gone. He added that a leader afraid of the truth has no business asking for a mandate.

Tinubu urged Nigerians not to listen to free promises but to look at what politicians did when they previously held power.