Stop Chasing Shadow, We Laid Foundation For Robust Pension Scheme, Atiku Replies Tinubu

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at President Bola Tinubu over remarks linking the current pension challenges to the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, insisting that the government he served in laid the foundation for Nigeria’s modern pension system.

In a statement issued on Friday by his media office, the former vice president described Tinubu’s comments as “unnecessary ghosting and futile political shadow chasing,” accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration of focusing on blame instead of governance.

The rebuttal came a day after President Tinubu, while addressing a delegation of North-East political leaders led by Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum, accused a former administration of privatising government enterprises without settling pension obligations.

Without mentioning Atiku by name, Tinubu had said: “Somebody among my prospective opponents privatized government investment in public entities but forgot to pay the pension. I’m clearing the pensioners now, clearing the mess they created.”

Atiku, who chaired the National Council on Privatisation during the Obasanjo administration, rejected the allegation, arguing that the administration inherited a pension system that was already in crisis but undertook sweeping reforms rather than apportioning blame.

According to the statement, the Obasanjo/Atiku government inherited an unfunded Defined Benefits Scheme with pension liabilities estimated at more than ₦2 trillion, representing about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product at the time.

The former vice president maintained that his administration addressed the problem by introducing the Pension Reform Act of 2004, establishing the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and replacing the old pay-as-you-go pension model with a fully funded Contributory Pension Scheme.

The statement added that the reforms introduced Retirement Savings Accounts, licensed private Pension Fund Administrators and Pension Fund Custodians, while creating a regulatory framework designed to insulate pension funds from political interference.

Atiku argued that the reforms halted the accumulation of unfunded pension liabilities and laid the groundwork for the growth of Nigeria’s pension assets into trillions of naira.

“The present helmsmen cannot continue to waste valuable national time and resources on ghosting and blaming past administrations. Government is a continuum. A successor must inherit assets and liabilities,” the statement said.

The ADC presidential candidate further accused Tinubu of failing to build on the achievements of previous administrations, urging him instead to tackle what he described as pressing national challenges.

“Tinubu should focus on resetting the salient issues of hunger and anger in the land, mostly caused by unabated insecurity, alarming mass youth unemployment, broken-down economy, strangulating social environment and wanton destruction of the nation’s political fabrics,” Atiku said.

He also claimed that the Obasanjo administration laid the foundation for broader economic reforms, including debt relief, liberalisation of the economy and improvements in sectors such as banking, telecommunications and hospitality.