Pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are still owed between five and eight months pensions, investigations have shown.
Also, others who are paid have not been paid.
This is contrary to what the Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Ms. Omolola Oloworaran, said two weeks ago that annuitants with the troubled insurance company; African Alliance Insurance Plc, have been fully paid monthly pensions owed.
At the Media Conference in Lagos,Oloworaran had said: “Yes, we had the issue of insurance companies not paying annuitants but we only had it with one company which was African Alliance. I am happy to let you know that all the pending backlogs were paid at the end of November and those that didn’t get in November must have gotten in the first two days in December.
“So, the issue has been resolved and we are working with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to ensure that they review all insurance companies and put a process in place to ensure we don’t have this kind of scenario again. We do have a process that ensures that this doesn’t happen but what happened in the African Alliance was before we put in place the measures that we have on ground. For an insurance company to sell annuities to any retiree, they must move the retiree fund or assets to a Pension Fund Custodian (PFC). This was the measure we put in place after discovering the gap in the system that made it easy for African Alliance to have access to retiree funds directly. With the funds in the custody of the PFCs, retirees can receive their money immediately they call for it.
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“We are working with a regulator to make sure that we work with the African alliance and ensure that we don’t have this issue again. It is a continuous conversation between us and NAICOM and it will be so until the issue is finally resolved. But, as of today, I can tell you that there are no pending payments for annuitants. We are glad that they have made the payment and want to work with them to be sure that we will not have this issue again,” she noted.
Speaking on whether or not PenCom will or has penalised African Alliance, she said they wanted to deal with the problem first before they think of penalty.
She, however, said they would penalise the company, adding that already the commission has banned African Alliance from selling annuities to retirees until they were sure that they could meet up with their obligations.
However, a pensioner from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mr. Gbadebo Olatokunbo, said: “It is a lie. Maybe the company lied to the DG. After many months of unpaid pension which led to pensioners’ outcry, we were paid three months only.
“l was paid for May, June and July in November 2024. So, I am still owed from August to December 2024. This means that my five-month pensions are still in limbo. Any other story is a fallacy.
“It’s a pity that we’re in a country where citizens don’t abide by the laws and still get away with crimes,” he lamented.
However, she said credit should be given to the new DG of PenCom for putting pressure on the insurance regulator, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), noting that if PenCom had not put pressure on NAICOM, they might still not get a kobo from African Alliance.
“The past management at NAICOM and PenCom left things undone for too long with African Alliance Insurance on annuity affairs. What a sad story to tell about contributory pensioners lives again in Nigeria. It is a big shame,” he said.
Besides, Mrs. Caroline Nifeipiri, who retired from NIPOST, she is still owed seven months.
“The last time I received my monthly pension from African Alliance was in April 2024, meaning that I am owed from May to December, which is eight months. But, in November, I was surprised that the company paid for only one month and I was very sad.
“My children have been helping me but there is little they can do because they have their family to cater for. I wake up every day feeling that my life savings are gone. How am I supposed to live my old years without suffering when I am not paid my monthly pension? I cannot even eat well or buy my drugs.”
Another policyholder, Mr. Abiodun Odunsi, also said he had not been fully paid.