The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has expanded eligibility for its PenCare Initiative pilot to retirees receiving monthly pensions of up to N150,000, aimed at increasing participation and improving healthcare access.

PenCom Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, said this on Tuesday in Abuja after the third meeting of the Pension Industry Leadership Council (PILC).

Oloworaran said the commission raised the income threshold to attract more participants and generate sufficient data required to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot programme.

According to her, PenCom targets 30,000 beneficiaries under the initiative but has so far enrolled only about 13,000 retirees, making broader participation necessary.

“We need a critical mass to properly test the system. Running a pilot with just 10,000 people will not give us the results we want,” she said.

She said retirees earning monthly pensions of N150,000 or below could now enrol and access free health insurance under the PenCare pilot scheme.

Oloworaran described the new threshold as a temporary measure to boost participation, adding that the commission would review it after the pilot programme was assessed.

“That we have extended it to N150,000 does not mean it will remain there. It is to help us test the system effectively,” she said.

She urged journalists to support awareness efforts, noting that many low-income retirees were still unaware of the programme and its healthcare benefits.

Oloworaran said PenCom planned to introduce three healthcare packages after the pilot to provide sustainable medical support for retirees across income categories.

She said the first package would provide free healthcare services for low-income retirees, while the second would offer a co-payment arrangement for retirees needing additional support.

“The third package will allow higher-income retirees to pay for enhanced healthcare coverage at competitive premium rates,” she said.

Oloworaran said improving retirees’ welfare remained one of PenCom’s top priorities as the commission continued exploring initiatives to enhance pensioners’ wellbeing and financial security.

“We continue to explore initiatives that will improve retirees’ wellbeing and ensure Nigerians retire with peace of mind,” she said.

The Borno Government has released N1,649,048,000 outstanding scholarship obligations to students for payment of tuition and accommodation fees, welfare packages and international educational commitments.

Executive Secretary of the State Scholarships Board, Dr.

Bala Isa, announced the approval at a news conference on Tuesday in Maiduguri.

He said that the intervention was a reflection of the Gov.

Babagana Zulum administration’s unwavering commitment to education as a tool for rebuilding the state and empowering its youths.

According to him, the funds will cover the outstanding 2024/2025 scholarship awards for students in universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

“The package includes tuition and accommodation fees for 272 medical students in Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare and tuition payments for 34 MBBS students at Al-Ansar University, Maiduguri.

“Part of the package is also fees for 60 students studying at the Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology, Zaria.

“Additional allocations will provide six months’ allowances for nursing students under the state scholarship programme and educational support for 300 orphans of counter-insurgency volunteers.

“These also include return airfare for postgraduate and undergraduate scholars studying in India, Malaysia and China,’’ he said.

Isa described the beneficiaries as future doctors, engineers, scientists and professionals whose expertise would contribute to the state’s long-term development.

He emphasised that the scholarship board had commenced administrative processes to ensure prompt disbursement of funds to institutions and the beneficiaries.

The executive secretary commended Zulum for prioritising education in spite of prevailing challenges.

He noted that sustained investments in scholarships and skills development remained central to the administration’s vision of building a prosperous, peaceful and educated state.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, on Tuesday handed over 1,452 items recovered from proceeds of crime to the Federal Ministry of Education to support schools across the country.

The recovered items, comprising 501 double-step bunk beds, 939 mattresses and 12 wooden beds with mattresses, were formally presented to the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, at a ceremony in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, Olukoyede said the items were recovered during the commission’s “Operation Eagle Flush,” a nationwide operation conducted in late 2024 against cybercrime and other financial offences.

He described the operation as the largest single operation ever undertaken by the commission.

“We are gathered here this afternoon to witness the handover to the Federal Ministry of Education of some recovered proceeds of crime duly forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, the operation led to the arrest of 792 suspects, including 193 foreign nationals, all of whom were investigated, prosecuted and convicted before the foreign nationals were deported after serving their jail terms.

Olukoyede said the decision to transfer the recovered items to the education ministry was in line with the Federal Government’s resolve to channel recovered assets into projects that directly benefit Nigerians.

“President Bola Tinubu made this decision fully conscious of the fact that children and the youth are the greatest victims of corruption and financial crimes. So, it should naturally be the first beneficiaries of the proceeds of such crime,” he said.

The EFCC chairman noted that the handover was not the first intervention from recovered assets directed at the education sector.

He recalled that a forfeited university was previously transferred to the Federal Government and converted into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia.

“You all remember sometime last year, a whole university facility was forfeited to the Federal Government and it was handed over to the Ministry of Education. Today, we have the Federal University of Applied Sciences in Kachia, Kaduna State,” he said.

Olukoyede also said recovered proceeds of crime had supported the establishment of the student loan scheme through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

He stated that more than 1.4 million students had benefited from the initiative, arguing that improved access to education would help reduce the attraction of cybercrime among young Nigerians.

“So, today, those who never thought of going to school now have the opportunity of going to school. Potentially, 1.4 million young people have been taken out of the dockets of those who have the potential to commit financial crimes,” he said.

He added that the commission would continue to recover proceeds of crime and ensure they were deployed transparently.

“There is not a penny of forfeited or recovered proceeds of crime to be misappropriated or misused. On behalf of the management and staff of the EFCC, we promise transparency and accountability in the application of proceeds of crime,” Olukoyede said.

Receiving the items, Alausa commended the EFCC chairman for adopting a proactive approach to tackling corruption, particularly procurement-related offences and cybercrime.

“Beyond trying to be proactive in fighting corruption, beyond identifying where we have the most burden of corruption, you hear the chairman say all the time the biggest part of corruption in government has to do with procurement,” the minister said.

He described education as central to the Federal Government’s economic agenda and said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had deliberately directed recovered assets towards strengthening the sector.

“We have a President that believes so much in education. Education is the bedrock of the development of this country. As the President advances his agenda to build a one-trillion-dollar economy, he knows educating the youth is a pillar of building that economy,” Alausa said.

The minister disclosed that the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, admitted about 3,000 students in its first academic session and is expected to increase its intake to over 5,000 students in its second year.

He also revealed that the initial N50 billion seed funding for the Nigerian Education Loan Fund came from recovered proceeds of crime.

“The first N50 billion that started the Nigerian Education Loan Fund came from the EFCC. This fund would not have been there without your aggressiveness in pursuing criminals looting public funds. So, we’re converting stolen money to gains—gains to develop our country,” he said.

Alausa said the newly handed-over hostel facilities would be deployed to federal unity colleges across the country.

“We need these bunks. We need these mattresses. We need these beds in our unity colleges. Chairman, thank you. We in the education sector have been the biggest beneficiary of this,” he said.

He reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that the recovered assets are used to improve access to quality education in line with the Federal Government’s education agenda.

The handover is part of the Federal Government’s policy of channelling forfeited assets into public projects, particularly in the education sector.