The story of pensioners’ agony in the country seems endless; changing almost every time. From queuing under the sun and going through all sorts of dehumanising treatment, it is a tale of woes. But, lately, there seems to be a new dawn; they are now being treated with respect and dignity like those in developed countries. In this report, Omobola Tolu-Kusimo looks at what has changed in the pension industry and the impact on pensioners.
In an air conditioned hall filled to capacity were men and women dressed elegantly in various traditional attires. The venue was 3 Bees Event, beside HS-Petroleum (Sweet Sensation), Ketu, Lagos. The hall’s ambience was like a typical party, but it was not. It was a verification exercise organised by the Federal Government through the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) for public sector pensioners.
One after the other, the senior citizens were served popular Nigerian delicacy Jollof-rice with grilled chicken and water by PTAD officials while they got verified. Seated quietly, the pensioners moved calmly following several steps in order to be added to the database. The PTAD staffers assisted them to fill required forms, check their documents for corrections and authenticity, while finger prints, pictures and contact information were collated. PTAD will later transfer the information on the forms to its electronic database. The documents were scanned, linked to pensioner biometrics and archived. Things have never been this rosy for the senior citizens. It was, indeed, a worthwhile experience for them.
Before
In the past the nation’s pension administration was a mess. The mess emanated from the public sector scheme, which is the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) or Pay As You Go (PAYG). Under the old system, pension was guaranteed by the government, but it became unsustainable due to lack of adequate and timely budgetary provisions and increases in salaries and pensions.
It was crisis-ridden and bedeviled with zero-funding, unco-ordinated and fragmented Defined Benefit (DB). The management, at the time, was characterised by poor records of eligible beneficiaries, deficit in pension liabilities to the tune of N.6 trillion, fraud and non-uniformity in pension arrangements in the public and private sectors were rife.
The private sector schemes, which were largely akin to the Provident Fund Schemes, was characterised by low coverage and compliance ratio due to lack of effective regulation and supervision. This resulted in complete paradigm shift from DBS as operated by both the public and private sectors to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
As a result of the disorderly pension system, especially in the public sector, many pensioners never get paid their pensions and gratuities decades after retirement. Those who were paid and were on monthly pension were removed from the payroll under the previous Heads of Service while many were never included in the database.
Despite serving the country for decades, the senior citizens were maltreated by government officials, who were to verify them for pension payment. They made them queue under the scorching sun and got them drenched during the rainy season. Some of them collapsed and died after queuing for long hours.
Giving a historical perspective on pension problem in the country, Executive Director, Centre For Pension Rights Advocacy, Ivor Takor, said the plight of Nigerian pensioners could be viewed from two eras: pre-pension reform and post- pension reform.
Takor, who is also a former board member of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), in a paper made available to journalists, said the first public sector pension scheme in Nigeria was the Pension Ordinance of 1951, with retroactive effect from January 1, 1946.
He said: “The law provided public servants with both pension and gratuity. Pensions Decrees 102 and 103 of 1979 were enacted for civil servants and the military respectively, with retroactive effect from April 1974. These decrees, which were later referred to as the Pension Act 1990 and the Armed Forces Pension Act, 1990 respectively, remained the operative laws on public service (Federal, states and local governments) and military pension in Nigeria until they were repealed by the Pension Reform Act 2004, which was later replaced by the Pension Reform Act 2014.
“The National Provident Fund (NPF), which was established in 1961, was the first formal pension scheme in the private sector. It was largely a saving scheme providing a one-off lump sum benefits. The Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), established in 1993, took over from the NPF and commenced business in July 1994.”
He lamented that Nigerian pensioners have had a raw deal and continued to suffer in the hands of employers, who were expected to protect them against old age poverty and destitution. “Employers, in the first place, based on contractual agreements, have a legal and moral obligation to protect workers against old age destitution and poverty,” he argued.
Reform era
The Federal Government embarked on pension reform and enacted the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004, which established the CPS and PenCom. Its implementation thereafter has made pension administration, management and regulation to be considerably streamlined.
The Act further established the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorates (PTAD) for greater efficiency and accountability in the pension administration under the DBS.
Today, the story of pensioners in the country has changed. To enable payment to all genuine pensioners, the PTAD commenced verification exercise in the six geo-political zones of the country. So far, they have met pensioners in almost all the states of the federation to verify them.
The PTAD in its quest to treat pensioners with dignity for serving their fatherland during their active years visited hospitals and homes to verify those who are sick and weak.
Restoring hope
PTAD Executive Secretary, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, said the Directorate has over 250, 000 pensioners in its database, adding that it has embarked on a lot of transformation programme to ensure that the story of pensioners in the country changed.
She said the agency has been improving its services to pensioners and would continue to serve them well, adding that the workers also have a new orientation that makes it possible for them to treat the pensioners with respect.
“Pensioners no longer have to come to Abuja when they have complaints, but can rather make use of the Lagos office. This is because we have strengthened the office to have the capacity to attend promptly to them. We are going to meet pensioners in all the states of the federation to verify them. We have been going to the hospitals to verify those who are sick and visit the homes of those who are weak and cannot go out of their houses. The pensioners don’t believe it and sometimes, they burst into tears and say you mean government can come to us and I said why can’t government come to you. There was a 99-year-old woman, who came out but we collected her address that we will be coming to her house for future verifications and told her not to stress herself.
“I told my staff that they must have a conscience and treat pensioners with respect. Because one day they will also become a retiree. I asked them if they will like to be treated with disdain. They have aged parents too. My orientation with them is working and they are treating retirees well. We have not even taken them abroad for training, but their attitude to work has been very good. Part of the things that I do to monitor and motivate them is that I go with them to places where they are carrying out the verification exercise and I tell them that if I can do it, why can’t they do it too. When they went to Maiduguri, I was there with them. I drove to Damaturu and the pensioners were crying because they were shocked to see me come to them.
“I would also sometimes enter the call center and pick up phones myself. I sit in my office and watch my CCTV. I do these things to ensure that they are in their best behaviour. When I came into office, I discovered that some of the workers appointment were not confirmed. I embarked on staff audit and worked with the Head of Service to confirm their appointments, especially some of the directors and this further motivated them to work. They now take their job very seriously and they are passionate about it,”she said.
Speaking further on the objectives of the Directorate, she said PTAD was established in August 2013 to oversee the administration of pensions under the DBS for pensioners not transiting to the CPS in compliance with the provisions for the PRA 2004, which recommended the establishment of an independent pension department for the public service of the federation. It operates four pension departments: The Civil Pension Department (CSPD), Police Pension Department (PPD), Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department (CIPPD) and Treasury Funded Parastatals Pension Department (PAPD).
Before PTAD was established, pension administration in Nigeria had fallen into disrepute amidst allegations of misappropriation of funds, maladministration, corruption. There were numerous pensioners complaints that bothered on issues such as non-payment of monthly pensions after retirement, short payment of pensions and gratuity, removal of names on pension payment voucher, non-payment of harmonised pension arrears, irregular payment of Federal pensions and non-receipt of pension after retirement, among other problems. In a bid to correct these anomalies as well as streamline the payment of pensions and gratuities of pensioners under its mandate, the PTAD commenced a nationwide verification of pensioners under the DBS to “maintaining a comprehensive database of pensioners in its jurisdiction” as it is mandated in the PRA 2004.
She said it is on record that PTAD did not inherit credible pensioners’ database, despite the many verification exercises conducted by the defunct pension offices. There was, therefore, an urgent need to verify all pensioners under the DBS to enable PTAD resolve their complaints. The verification of pensioners is therefore, aimed at the establishment of an accurate, credible and digitised database of pensioners under the DBS and eliminate duplication of payments and ghost pensioners.
“It also include regularising abnormalties such as over payments and under payments, obtaining relevant work records to ensure accurate computation of pension payment and updating the records of the next of kins (NoKs) for payment of benefit and entitlements. The essence of digitising the employment records and biometrics of pensioners is to create a permanent database of their records and ensure that pensioners are not asked to come out again for such detailed exercise,”she added.
Pensioners react
Mrs Roselyn Adeniyi, who retired in 2006, said she retired as a chief matron. She lamented that she has not received any pension or gratuity since she retired and had done series of verifications. “The last one I did was in 2011, but nothing came out of it. But I am convinced that I will get my pension soon going by the arrangement by PTAD. I love the way this verification is going on smoothly, but I pray that the money will be given to me before I die. My appeal is to President Muhammadu Buhari to approve money so that I will be paid,” she said.
Another retiree, Mr George Odororo, said he retired in April 1999 from Lagos State Civil Service. “It has been a wonderful and commendable arrangement compared to previous verifications,” he said.
For Mrs Mariam Abdullahi, the story is different. According to her, she retired in 1992 and she has been getting her pension regularly. “I am here to do the regular verification. The organisation this time is very good, better than what we have gone through in the past. We were expecting that it will be as tedious as our former experience. But I am happy and enjoying the exercise. They are taking care of us. I came to the centre at about 9:00am and I went through the process in two hours.”
But Mr Samuel Adetuga, who retired in 2001 said has not received any pension payment. “I have received gratuity, but no pension. I have done several verifications. My message to the President is that as he is putting effort to see that we are paid, he should follow it up so that those government officials and other connivers that are stealing our money will not have the opportunity to do it again,” he said.
