Pension complaints and solutions

Our Reporter

ANA:  Complaint for payment of outstanding pension and gratuity of N 1,723,275.33.

Kindly assist me solve this problem. I am Mr. Tor, a retired officer with the Nigeria Immigration Services. I was in service at the time of introduction of PenCom in 2004. By 2006, I registered with first Alliance Pension and Benefits Limited in the first instance which has now metamorphosed into ARM Pension Managers.

But certificate issuance was unusually delayed and no explanation was advanced. This delay created anxiety prompting me to register with another pension manager, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers with a different PIN.

I retired in May, 2016. By December 29, 2016, I applied for harmonisation of my pension managers to the PenCom into one pension manager to facilitate payment of my pension. PenCom replied me in a letter dated February 1, 2017.

In the reply, PenCom recognised the first PIN registered with ARM as valid. That Stanbic IBTC PIN is considered invalid. That ARM Pension would retain the first valid PIN on its data base while Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers would de-activate the second invalid PIN from its data base.

PenCom advised that I should maintain Retirement Saving Account PIN with ARM for all pension transactions. PenCom also promised to reconcile the contributions in the valid PIN to ensure that total contributions there in are brought up to date accordingly, while that in the invalid PIN (if any) would be refunded to the Federal Government through its accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

To my surprise, PenCom did not abide by its promise. Consequently, by May 2017, PenCom paid the Accrued right-R-FGN of N 6,181,000.00 only into the invalid retirement saving account (RSA) of Stanbic IBTC which had a less than N4,237,348.77, while the valid PIN which had N5,459,869.67  only as at that time was abandoned.

This was the beginning of short payment of my pension. By October, 2018 when I discovered that   N5,459,869.67 was still hanging in my valid RSA PIN, I wrote to PenCom through my lawyer demanding a balance of N1,189,019.17  PenCom did not reply my first letter. On January 15,2019, I wrote to PenCom again, but as at now, PenCom did not reply any of the letters.

On  April 15, 2019, I wrote to ARM demanding for the payment of the money domiciled in my RSA. I made it known to them that the money in my RSA with them is part of my salary deductions remitted by the Nigeria Immigration Service in accordance with the Pension law of 2014.

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To my surprise again, ARM replied on April 18, 2019, that they were directed by PenCom to evacuate the cash with them which now stands at N5,860,624.10 to Contributory Pension Account (CPA). Consequently, my request cannot be met since my account balance with them now stands at zero.

Please, help sort out this problem of shortfall from my pension payment. Also, I want to know what has become of my salary deduction remitted into my valid RSA with ARM by Nigeria Immigration Service now evacuated into Contributory Pension Accounts.

THE NATION:  Your complaint to will be forwarded to PTAD. Do watch out for the newspaper publication next Wednesday for a response from PenCom. Keep a date with us every week for pension news.

ABDULHAKEEM: I am Abdulhakeem and the Next of Kin (NoK) to my late mother’s (Halimat S Rabbit) benefits. I have filed all necessary documents since June 2018 and nothing is forth coming and the money is supposed to help the family. Please help me. Thank you and God bless.

THE NATION:  Your complaint will be forwarded to PTAD for attention. Do watch out for the newspaper publication next Wednesday for a response from PenCom. Keep a date with us every week for pension news.

OYELADE: I am Mrs. Racheal from National Identity Management Commission. I have done verification since August 2016, but PTAD has not paid till date. My Pension Account Number is Anonymous and with Sigma pension. I am helpless living a hard life. Please, kindly assist me so that I can take care of my health.

THE NATION: Your complaint to will be forwarded to PTAD. Do watch out for the newspaper publication next Wednesday for a response from PenCom. Keep a date with us every week for pension news.