The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has been paying about N3 billion as monthly pension to each segment of pensioners under the old pension scheme of Pay As You Earn (PAYE), the Director-General of the Directorate, Ms Nelie Meshack, has said.
Speaking in Abuja on the total amount paid by PTAD since its inception in August last year, she said the directorate has been diligent in the discharge of its duties.
The segments to be managed by the Directorate are the Police Pension Department; the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department; the Civil Service Pension Department; and the Treasury Funded Parastatals Pension Department.
PTAD is already managing and paying monthly pensions of the Nigeria Police Force, Customs and Immigration and Prisons and recently adopted the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) pensioners categorised under the Civil Service Pension Department.
Meshack however said the Directorate cannot ascertain the total liabilities of pensioners under the old scheme as a result of lack of database for the pensioners in the country.
She said not all the pensioners have been consolidated under PTAD, noting that this is why the directorate is embarking on a nationwide verification exercise soon.
This, she said, will enable the directorate to know the total number of genuine pensioners and sieve out ghost pensioners under the system.
She further said the pensioners are presently scattered across the country and it is part of its mandate to put them under a strong database.
She said: “We cannot fully ascertain the total liabilities of pensioners under the old scheme and that is why we will soon embark on a nationwide verification exercise to verify genuine and fake pensioners.
“We have not done the total of the few ones that we have on our list now but on a monthly basis depending on a certain segment of pensioners, we pay about N3 billion monthly.”
Speaking on the Directorate’s mandate, she said: “Our mandate is to make budgetary estimates for existing pensioners and officers exempted from this scheme under Section 5 (1)(b) of this Act, prepare and submit the monthly payroll of pensioners to the office of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for direct payment from the budgetary allocation maintained with the CBN’s bank accounts; issue payment instructions to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation; maintain a comprehensive database of pensioners under their respective jurisdiction.
“Others include ascertaining deficits in pension payments if any to existing pensioners or the categories of officers exempted under section 5 (1)(b) of this Act, and carry out such other functions aimed at ensuring the welfare of pensioners and render monthly returns on pensioners, deceased pensioners, details of NOK of deceased pensioners and on any other issue as may be required from time to time.”