ABUJA — Presidential flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has dismissed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent comments on the Federal Government pension backlog, labelling them “unnecessary ghosting and futile political shadow chasing.”
In a statement issued on Friday by the Atiku Media Office, the ADC candidate accused the President of attempting to blame the Obasanjo/Atiku administration for problems it had already solved nearly two decades ago. The remarks came in response to comments Tinubu made to visiting Northeast stakeholders led by Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum.
“Both President Tinubu and his inept APC administration should seek more knowledge about good governance and developmental communication,” the statement read, adding: “Government is a continuum. A successor must inherit assets and liabilities.”
Atiku’s office recalled that when the Obasanjo/Atiku government assumed office in 1999, it inherited a broken, unfunded, and non-contributory Defined Benefits Scheme with an estimated liability of over ₦2 trillion—approximately 25 percent of the nation’s GDP at the time.
According to the statement, rather than apportioning blame to predecessors, the administration enacted the Pension Reform Act of 2004 and established the National Pension Commission (PenCom), leaving behind a fully funded, privately managed Contributory Pension Scheme when it exited office in 2007.
The old Pay-As-You-Go model, the statement noted, had depended on annual budgetary allocations that were grossly underfunded. This system, it explained, created massive arrears, ghost pensioners, data inaccuracies, and bureaucratic delays, while most private sector workers had no coverage whatsoever.
“Under the reforms, the Obasanjo/Atiku government introduced mandatory contributions by both employers and employees into individual Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs). It also institutionalised Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to manage investments and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) to safeguard assets,” the statement detailed.
The Atiku Media Office said the reforms successfully halted the accumulation of new unfunded pension debts and established the foundation for Nigeria’s pension assets, which have since grown into tens of trillions of naira. It accused President Tinubu of failing to acknowledge that existing structure.
The statement further maintained that the Obasanjo/Atiku administration laid the groundwork for the liberalisation of the economy, including the payment of foreign debt and the creation of enabling environments in banking, telecommunications, hospitality, and other sectors.
Atiku advised the President to instead focus on addressing current challenges confronting the nation.
“Tinubu should focus on resetting the salient issues of hunger and anger in the land, caused by unabated insecurity, mass youth unemployment, a broken economy and the destruction of our political fabric,” the statement concluded.
