The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Pensioners

  • PTAD pays over N7b to 236,705 pensioners in August

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has paid retirees who are under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) for last month.

    In a statement by PATD’s Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Emma Okondo, said  about N7.5 billion was paid to 236,705 Pensioners under the scheme.

    It stated that PTAD was committed to keeping its promise of making prompt payment to pensioners when due.

    In a related event, the Association of Retired Police officers of Nigeria (ARPON), Kano State Chapter, has appealed to the National Assembly to fast-track the amendment of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

    Its Secretary, Saidu Garba, said the amendment would pave way for the exclusion of its members from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    Garba said it was the desire of the association across the three states of Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa, who are members of the chapters, for the Federal Government to revert to the previous Police Pension Scheme.

    “We are using this medium to express our willingness and desire as police pensioners under this scheme, to be excluded from the Contributory Pension Scheme,’’ he said.

  • Edo councils set aside N200m to pay pensioners  

    Local governments in Edo State have set out  N212,879,888 to payment pensioners.

    The money is from the N2, 146,235,377 it got from the federation account for August.

    Head of Owan East Local Government Administration Mr. Akeena Ade-Akhani, announced this after the Edo Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC), presided over by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

    Mr. Akeena said the amount spent on mandatory expenditures was N1,440,618,407, adding that the 18 local councils are left to share N705, 616, 970.

    Akeena hailed the electronic-system for revenue collection which, he said, is successful.

    He emphasised the government is not deducting money from local government allocations.

  • S/South: PTAD pays N835.45m arrears to 1,690 pensioners

    S/South: PTAD pays N835.45m arrears to 1,690 pensioners

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Monday said that it has paid about N835.45 million as arrears to about 1,690 pensioners from the South-South who were recently verified.

    In a statement from the agency made available to newsmen, PTAD said it was committed to the ensuring that welfare of pensioners under its defined benefit scheme is taken care of.

    The two paragraph statement: “The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has paid the sum of Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four Million, Four Hundred and Fifty-Nine Thousand and Six Hundred and Twenty Naira, and Three Kobo (N834, 459,620.03) as pension arrears to One Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety (1,690) verified civil service pensioners from the South-South zone.

    “This was effected on the 18th of August, 2017. PTAD assures of its commitment to pensioners under its mandate under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS)”

    Th agency only recently conducted another round of verification in three states of Osun, Ondo and Ekiti in the south west, saying it wants to create a data base of pensioners to enable government make an adequate budgetary allocation for the payment of pensions.

  • Pensioners besiege centres for PTAD verification in Southwest

    Thousands of pensioners have besieged verification centres in three Southwest states of Osun, Ondo and Ekiti for the ongoing verification by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).

    The verification is said to be for creating a comprehensive database for Federal Government pensioners.

    The verification, which had been concluded in the Northwest, Northeast, Southsouth and Southeast, is being carried out simultaneously in the three states as the first phase in the Southwest where about 45,000 pensioners are expected to be verified.

    The Nation learnt that there was a large pensioners’ turnout on the first two days of the verification, which is being monitored by the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) and a select group of journalists.

    Addressing reporters after monitoring the verification in Osogbo, Osun State capital, PTAD’s Executive Secretary Sharon Ikeazor said the checks would enable the government have a complete database of pensioners on its payroll to enable it make adequate budgetary provisions for them every year.

    She said: “With this verification, government will now know its true liabilities. Majority of complaints we get from pensioners are from the Southwest. We inherited the payroll from the Head of Service (HoS), who was handling pension matters before.

    “So, with the verification, we will be able to know the true liabilities and the complaints of pensioners on wrong computation, underpayment or overpayment, so that we clean up our database and get a verifiable database for the payment of pensions. Before now, there was no verifiable database.

    “Under the Defined Benefit Scheme, government takes full responsibility for all the pension payments; unlike the contributory, where you contribute. For years, government was paying pensions under the Defined Benefit Scheme and now realised that it could no longer bear that burden. That is why they introduced the contributory pension.

    “So, with the verification we are doing now, we will know the amounts the government can budget for it adequately every year. PTAD is a treasury-funded agency. We don’t generate revenue and so, it is what government gives us that we spend.

    “With the verification we get from them, all their documents, which include their first letter of employment and retirement, are returned to our office. We carry out what we call quality assurance and computation. So, for anyone who is underpaid, it will be normalised and those who are overpaid will start making refunds. We have a lot of cases of underpayment and overpayment. It is just that government doesn’t complain.”

     

     

     

  • 45,312 pensioners for verification

    45,312 pensioners for verification

    •Osun, Ondo, Ekiti for first phase today

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement  Directorate (PTAD)  has said about 45,312 pensioners from the six states of the Southwest are expected to undergo verification from today in four centres.

    About 56,587 pensioners have so far been verified in four zones, representing 45 percent of pensioners to be verified by the agency with the aim of creating a quality data base of pensioners for easy administration and payment.

    The management of the agency said in a statement in Abuja that the exercise in the Southwest had been divided into two phases.  Osun, Ekiti and Ondo are coming in the first phase, which is expected to be monitored by the Executive Secretary, Mrs.  Sharon Ikeazor.

    During the five-day exercise, which is expected to end on Friday, about 4,054 pensioners are expected to be verified in Ondo State, 2,089 in Ekiti and 4,425 in Osun, while Lagos, Oyo and Ogun are expected to have 21,295, 7,917 and 5,535 respectively.

    The statement said through the ongoing verification, the agency has started the building of “a credible data base of Defined Benefit Scheme pensioners” which never existed.

  • PTAD pays 237,306 pensioners for July

    PTAD pays 237,306 pensioners for July

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) said yesterday it has paid out N7,389,954,164.03 as July pensions to about 237,306 pensioners of Federal Government’s agencies under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

    PTAD added that it will transfer payment of pensions of retired Heads of Service and permanent secretaries, who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme to the National Pension Commission (NPC) from January 2018.

    A statement from the management of PTAD said   98,362 pensioners, who retired from the Parastatals Pension Department (PaPD), 16,111 pensioners under Police Pension Department (PPD), 110,753 under Civil Service Pension Department (CSPD) and 12,080 under Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department (CIPPD) were paid.

    The statement said the directorate was committed to keeping its promise of making prompt payment to pensioners as at when due, stressing that PTAD is a Treasury Funded Agency and rely on financial releases from government to pay the workers.

    In a separate statement, PTAD said the payment of retired Federal Heads of Service and permanent secretaries, who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme, will now be done by PENCOM with effect from January, 2018.

    It said while there are 217 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, 137 fall under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) and 80 are on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    The statement added that by law, PTAD administers all pension matters under the Defined Benefit Scheme. PENCOM handles retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    It added: “Under two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2016 and 2017 between both pension agencies, an agreement was reached for PTAD to pay the monthly pensions of retired Federal Heads of Service and as such, budgetary provisions were made in the 2017 Budget for payment of all 80 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    “Thus far, PTAD has been able to ensure that these senior citizens have received their pension entitlements till date and will continue to do so until December 31, 2017.

    “PENCOM has prepared the necessary guidelines for the payment of the retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the CPS.

    “This was a critical area the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor, had earlier stressed a need for, to ensure smooth transition devoid of hitches which could negatively impact on pension payments.”

  • Enugu discovers 6,000 ghost workers, pensioners

    •Grows IGR to 35% of total revenue

    Enugu State Government has discovered and weeded out 6,280 ghost workers and pensioners from the nominal rolls of local government’s councils and its Pensions Board.

    Part of the discovery was fallout of the committee that recently disbursed the first tranche of the Paris Club Refund, which was used to offset all the outstanding salaries and some pensions of local government workers and retirees respectively, totaling 3,462 ghost pensioners.

    It would be recalled that a committee headed by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Edward Ubosi, had discovered 2,818 ghost workers in the nominal roll of local government staff.

    Briefing journalists after the meeting of the State Executive Council, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. OgbuaguAnikwe, disclosed that the council “authorized the Commissioner for Local Government Matters, Mr. ChijiokeEdeoga, to hand over the verified names as the master list of workers and pensioners to concerned local councils, LG Commission and Pension Board”.

    Mr. Anikwe said that the state’s Accountant General, Sir Paschal Okolie, briefed the council and announced that “the Enugu State government has grown its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to 35 percent of her total revenue”.

    The Information Commissioner added that “Okolie who was addressing top government functionaries at a mid-year budget review at the weekend said that the half year revenue receipts of N12.4billion almost equaled federal statutory allocation of N13.5billion within the period.

    “He described this as a remarkable achievement on the part of revenue collection agencies in the state for the period, considering that the total IGR receipt for 2016 was N14.2billion”.

  • PTAD pays July pension

    PTAD pays July pension

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has paid out N7,389,954,164.03 as July pensions to about 237,306 pensioners in federal government agencies under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

    PTAD also announced that it will transfer payment of pensions of retired Heads of Service and Permanent secretaries who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme to the National Pension Commission from January 2018. 

    A statement from the management of PTAD made available to The Nation on Saturday said 98,362 Pensioners who retired from the Parastatals Pension Department (PPD), 16,111 Pensioners under Police Pension Department (PPD), 110,753 Pensioners under Civil Service Pension Department (CSPD) and 12,080 Pensioners under Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department (CIPPD) where paid.

    The statement said the Directorate is committed to keeping its promise of making prompt payment to Pensioners as at when due, stressing that PTAD was a Treasury Funded Agency and rely on financial releases from government to pay the workers.

    In a separate statement, PTAD said the payment of retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries who fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme will now be done by PENCOM with effect from January, 2018.

    It said  while there are 217 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, 137 fall under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) while 80 are of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), adding by law, while PTAD administers all pension matters under the Defined Benefit Scheme and PENCOM handle retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    It said further that “Under two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2016 and 2017 between both Pension agencies, an agreement was reached for PTAD to pay the monthly pensions of retired Federal Heads of Service and as such, budgetary provisions were made in the 2017 Budget for payment of all 80 retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the Contributory Pension Scheme. 

    “Thus far, PTAD has been able to ensure that these senior citizens have received their pension entitlements till date and will continue to do so until 31st December, 2017.

    “PENCOM has prepared the necessary guidelines for the payment of the retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries under the CPS. 

    “This was a critical area the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor had earlier stressed a need for, to ensure smooth transition devoid of hitches which could negatively impact on pension payments.

    “The Acting Director General of PENCOM, Aisha Dahir – Umar gave assurances to the Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries (CORFEPS) representatives of a seamless transition as budgetary preparations were in progress to ensure payments are effected from January, 2018. Of recent, PTAD had carried out a verification of retired Federal Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries.”

  • Pensioners hail govt for releasing N740b to pay arrears

    Pensioners hail govt for releasing N740b to pay arrears

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has lauded the Federal Government for releasing N740 billion for the settlement of outstanding pension liabilities and promotion arrears of federal workers.

    It asked its members nationwide to take advantage of the voter registration exercise and equip themselves with voter cards to enable them vote out politicians, who have displayed anti-worker and anti-pensioners tendencies during the 2019 elections.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by its General Secretary, Actor Zal, the union said the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)) has assured that all pension arrears will soon be liquidated by the government and appeal to its members nationwide to exercise a little more patience.

    The union said the government will facilitate the payment of entitlements in due course through the treasury bills and bonds.

    According to the statement, payments of the arrears of 33 per cent pension increase (18 months for civilian pensioners and 39 months for police pensioners) as well as the arrears of gratuities that were owed pensioners since 2001 will also be liquidated.

    The statement added: “PTAD will equally commence the verification of pensioners from the Southwest and Northcentral zones within a few weeks from now. The dates and venues of the exercise will be announced as soon as funds are released through print and electronic media by PTAD accordingly.”

    It said the union was appreciative “of the efforts of the Chairman, House Committee on Pension, Hon. Hassan Shekarau and the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, for their frantic and unshakeable efforts in this regard. We call on them and all other well-meaning Nigerians to join hands with the Federal Government to ensure that this payment is done without further delay so as to assuage the pains and sufferings of our senior citizens, who had worked selflessly for a greater and indivisible Nigeria.

    “May we equally use this medium to direct all our members from the states, LGAs and parastatals across the country to take advantage of the on-going voters registration exercise towards equipping themselves with voter cards in readiness for the 2019 general election so as to cast their votes for those who have been treating them fairly and against those who have been treating them with disdain and levity.”

  • Govt seeks apology from protesting pensioners

    The Osun State government yesterday insisted that a group of protesting retirees in the state must apologise to residents of the state for misleading them over the London-Paris Club loan refund.

    Some pensioners had a month ago accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of diverting the second tranche of the loans’ refund.

    The Federal Government on Tuesday announced the disbursement of N243.7 billion to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), out of which Osun got N6.134 billion.

    In a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication & Strategy, Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, the government demanded an unreserved apology from the retirees for wrongly accusing the governor.

    The statement entitled: “Protesting group of pensioners must apologise to Osun people for misinforming them over Paris Club refunds a months ago”, said: “The attention of the Government of Osun has been drawn to another in the series of protests by a group of pensioners who have filed out again today (Wednesday) July 19, 2017 for reasons best known to them.

    “It is interesting to note that about a month ago, this same set of pensioners accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of collecting and diverting the second tranche of Paris loan refund, which they claimed had been released to Osun State by the Federal Government.

    “As they have come out today, they have a duty to actually apologise not only to Aregbesola’s government, but also to the good people of Osun State for misinforming, confusing and creating tension in the state through their false claim that the governor had received the second tranche of Paris loan refund about a month ago.

    “Like we have said, Osun State government, with its commitment to transparency under the leadership of Governor Rauf Aregbesola made the announcement yesterday (Tuesday) to confirm the receipt of 6.314billion as the second tranche of Paris loan refund from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    “The money was paid into the account of the state government on Monday and we duly made the announcement yesterday, informing the public that Osun has got the second tranche of Paris loan refund.

    “In line with our government’s promise to utilise the resources of this state in the best interest of our people, we hereby restate our commitment to this promise as we begin shortly transparent deployment on our commitments to the concerned stakeholders.”