Tinubu Warns Employers Against Non-remittance Of Workers’ Pension Contributions

… Says no Nigerian who served nation will be forgotten in retirement

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has warned employers against failing to remit workers’ pension contributions, describing the act as a breach of trust. He also assured that no Nigerian who has served the nation will be forgotten in retirement.

The President spoke on Thursday at the inaugural National Pension Week Leadership Summit at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. He was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.Delivering the President’s address, themed “Pensions for All: Building a Secure Future Together,” Akume said Tinubu regards pension as a national obligation and not a favour.

According to the President, a pension is a wage earned, deferred and held in trust, and his administration has resolved to keep that promise.

Tinubu said he inherited pension obligations that had been deferred for too long, with retirees waiting years for their accrued rights. To address this, he approved the N758 billion Federal Government Pension Bond to settle accrued pension rights and strengthen the Pension Protection Fund.

Akume said the President described the move not as an accounting exercise but as an act of restitution to Nigerians who served their country and were made to wait for what they had earned.

The President also announced that his administration will implement the Minimum Pension Guarantee provision of the Pension Reform Act 2014. The provision, according to the SGF, has not been implemented since the law was enacted over 11 years ago.

“Since enactment, that promise has never been honoured. Under President Tinubu, it will be,” Akume declared.
Tinubu further announced the launch of PenCare, a national retiree wellbeing programme. It will begin by giving low-income retirees access to essential healthcare, and marks a shift from a system that only holds savings to one that guarantees a floor of dignity.
He said a strong pension system is both a social protection imperative and a strategic pillar of economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda. It mobilises long-term domestic savings, deepens financial markets and supports productive investment, he added.
The President cautioned, however, that government cannot deliver retirement security alone. He charged the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to remain firm, fair and forward-looking, and to enforce the law without fear or favour.
He also urged public and private sector employers to remit contributions fully and promptly, stressing that to deduct a worker’s contribution and fail to remit it is not an administrative lapse but a breach of trust.
Tinubu challenged Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Custodians to deepen expertise, diversify responsibly, reduce costs and measure success not by assets under management but by what each contributor ultimately receives.
“Preservation without growth is a slow erosion. Retirement savings that fail to keep pace with inflation quietly betray the very people who saved them,” he said, insisting that security of capital and disciplined growth must go together.
The President stressed that while pension assets should help build Nigeria through infrastructure and productive enterprise, national development must never come at the expense of pensioners. Every investment, he said, must pass rigorous tests of risk and return and serve the best interests of contributors.
He also directed an aggressive push beyond the formal sector. According to him, traders, artisans, farmers, transport workers and millions of self-employed Nigerians deserve a realistic pathway to a secure old age through the Personal Pension Plan and new distribution channels.
“Pensions for All must mean exactly that: all,” he said.
Tinubu called on state governments, organised labour and all stakeholders to join hands to expand coverage and deepen compliance. He said the summit must not end in speeches but in measurable commitments, including more Nigerians enrolled, faster payment of benefits, stronger investment performance, clearer disclosure and more dignified outcomes.
“The true measure of our success will not be how much money the system holds. It will be how much security, and how much dignity, it delivers,” he said.
The President concluded that Nigeria will keep faith with those who kept faith with Nigeria.