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Tag: PTAD

  • PTAD verifies 2,596 pensioners in Niger

    The Pension Transitional Administration Directorate (PTAD) has verified 2,596 federal civil service pensioners in Niger State.

    According to the Head Pension Officer of PTAD, Abubakar Aboki, the verification was to authenticate the pensioners who are already on its payroll and bring on board pensioners that have not been payrolled.

    Speaking to The Nation in Minna at the end of the verification exercise, he said that PTAD is out to ensure that every civil servant who retires and is eligible should be payrolled and paid his rightful pension.

    “The exercise is for those who have worked in the regional government and retired before 31st March, 2011 and the pure federal civil servants who retired before 30th June, 2007.

    “Our aim is to re-compute the entire payment of the pensioners and immediately commence payment. The payment may take a few months due to the large number of pensioners that we have.”

    Aboki also said that PTAD will check its record to see that those who are being over paid are brought down to their normal entitlement.

    He stated that throughout the verification exercise,  no ghost pensioner was discovered,  adding that dates have been set to visit pensioners who are decapitated and hospitalised with the aim of capturing them.

    The Nation spoke with some of the pensioners who described the process as fast and efficient as most of them hope the payment of their pension will no longer be delayed.

    Maiyaki Umar said the exercise is different from other verification exercises he had been to, saying “the process is good and stress-free. It is more detailed and the people are friendly and polite.”

     

  • PTAD settles 12 months of Police pension

    PTAD settles 12 months of Police pension

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate PTAD has paid additional 12 months arrears of 33 percent pension increase to Police Pensioners, bringing the number of months so far paid to months, the Directorate has said.

    In a statement made available to The Nation, PTAD said it has so far paid 24 months of the arrears to the police pensioners, leaving an outstanding of 18 months, while civil service pensioner have so far been paid 30 months arrears with the payment of an additional 6 months.

    It said that pensioners from government parastatals were also paid an additional six month pension from the payment made recently from the service wide vote released by the federal Ministry of finance.

    The statement further said that all pensioners under Customs, Immigration and Prison Pensions Department had already been paid the 33% arrears in full since August 2016. The latest payment was made from the Service Wide Vote released last week by the Federal Ministry of Finance. 

    It said it will settle the outstanding arrears of the 33% increment as soon as additional releases are made. Until then, the Directorate implores its pensioners to be patient and continue to exercise vigilance against the activities of fraudsters and rabble-rousers. Always remember that the payment of pension and other retirement benefits is free.

  • PTAD advises FHA, Delta Steel pensioners on verification

    PTAD advises FHA, Delta Steel pensioners on verification

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has urged the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Delta Steel Company (DSC) pensioners to partake in the ongoing verification  in Lagos, Abuja and Delta State.

    The exercise is billed to end at the Lagos Centre today. The Delta Centre ends on Tuesday.

    The event, which started on Monday, is to enable it review the captured data to identify genuine pensioners, compute into the system and ascertain pension entitlements for payments.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor represented by the Assistant Director, Pension Admin, PTAD, Jibrin Idris made this known during the verification exercise in Lagos yesterday.

    He however said the turnout in Lagos for the exercise was not impressive, but he is optimistic that more people would show up before the end of the exercise.

    He said the essence of the verification is to identify genuine retirees of the two agencies, which are FHA and DSC, stressing that in the last verification, pensioners of NICON Insurance; New Nigeria Newspapers and Nigeria Reinsurance were verified.

  • PTAD commences verification of 8000 FHA, Delta steel pensioners

    PTAD commences verification of 8000 FHA, Delta steel pensioners

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate PTAD has begun the verification of about 8,000 pensioners of Delta Steel Company, Aladja and Federal Housing Authority under its Defined Benefit Scheme in three centres across the country.

    The pensioners are expected to centres are located in Delta state, Lagos and Abuja with relevant documents for verification in other to be included in the pension payroll of the government several years after leaving government service.

    At the commencement of the exercise in Abuja, Mr. Onofiok Ekon who said he retired as General Manager of Delta steel company in 1995 said he did not believe the exercise would hold, but was impressed with the arrangements made by PTAD which showed the Directorate is ready to attend to them. 

    Officials of the Directorate said the exercise is expected to last four days in Abuja. Eight days in Delta and five days in Lagos.

    The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor who monitored the flag off of the exercise in Abuja said the process would involve documents review, biodata capturing and including them in the comprehensive database towards enrolment for monthly pension payment. 

    PTAD recently concluded the verification of those who are civil servants across the six geopolitical zones of the country, bring to three, categories of pensioners that have so far been verified.

    They had earlier concluded the verification of Police Pensioners as well as those of the Customs, Immigration and Prison services.

    In October, it began the verification of pensioners under its parastatals category.

    At the conclusion of the exercise, the agency is expected to present to the government a comprehensive data of pensioners under the old Defined Benefit Scheme.

  • 24,000 federal pensioners undergo verification in Kogi

    24,000 federal pensioners undergo verification in Kogi

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has commenced verification of about 24,00 Federal Civil Service pensioners in Kogi as part of efforts to address various issues surrounding pension administration in the country.

    A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the conduct on Wednesday in Lokoja, gathered that the exercise was taking place in Kwara, Benue, Plateau and Kogi states simultaneously.

    According to a highly reliable source which craved anonymity, the exercise which commenced on Monday, is expected to verify the status of about 24,000 pensioners.

    The source revealed that the week-long exercise, which is in three stages, entailed review of the pensioners’ documents; Biometric capturing and digitization of employment records as well as Quality Assurance and issuance of a slip to each verified pensioner.

    The exercise, according to the source, is aimed at creating accurate and credible database of pensioners that retired on or before June 2007 and have not transited to the contributory pension scheme.

    He added that the verification would also help in the elimination of duplicate payments and non-eligible pensioners from the payroll as well as regularisation of anomalies such as over payment and underpayments.

    He described over payment as one of the major challenges discovered so far, adding that the exercise had maintained a human face as the feeble and the sick were given special treatment with express service.

    Mobile service is being extended to sick pensioners who could not make it to the venue as the officials move equipment to their homes to capture their data.

    A pensioner and former Secretary to Kogi State Government (SSG), Chief Andrew Aileku who is also a federal pensioner, commended the PTAD officials for the orderly and peaceful conduct of the exercise.

    Another pensioner, a retired Permanent Secretary, Mr Benjamin Ipinyomi, lauded the peaceful and orderly conduct of the exercise and urged the Federal Government to ensure all verified pensioners continued to enjoy their pensions promptly.

  • Insurance firms yet to return Fed Govt’s N25b pension fund, says PTAD

    Insurance firms yet to return Fed Govt’s N25b pension fund, says PTAD

    Over N25 billion of  pension funds from the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) is still being owed by some insurance firms, the Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, has said.

    She was highlighting  the progress made by the Directorate in her 11 years of assuming office as the Executive Secretary at the just concluded 20117 Conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents in Lagos.

    Nine out of 12 firms are holding the funds. The one year deadline given to the defaulting firms would expire next month.

    Mrs Ikeazor said the PTAD had given the insurance companies one year  to repay the monies owed, considering that the monies had been with them since 2015 and they knew they were to hand over to PTAD since then.

    According to her, PTAD is liaising with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for regulatory support as it may be compelled to take legal action and include the Attorney-General of the Federation and agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to help recover the funds.

    She stressed that while some of the affected companies had complied, some of them said they would not be able to meet the December deadline .

    She said: “Among companies that have complied are Leadway Assurance with full payment of N33.3 million and  AIICO Insurance, which complied in form of transferring properties and investments worth N1.5 billion.

    “NICON Insurance substantially complied transferring fixed assets worth N13 billion to PTAD. The value placed on them are yet to be verified and reconciled. The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is carrying out the valuation of those assets to determine their actual value. As at 31st August, 2017, the sum of N6.422 billion is in the Legacy Fund (e-payment) with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    “PTAD has entered the enforcement stage in the recovery process against defaulting insurance companies. The final Demand Notice was served in October.”

    She urge the defaulting companies holding legacy funds to pay up to enable the PTAD deal promptly with the inherited liabilities.

    She listed the Directorate’s areas of success since she assumed office as prompt payment of monthly pensions; completion of the verification process for the civil service and parastatals; automation of the pension payment processes and the use of Government-Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) and tackling pension scammers and fraudsters.

    The Directorate, she said, has also paid outstanding arrears, including the 33 per cent arrears and recovery of legacy funds from insurance companies.

  • PTAD beg pensioners over delayed October pension

    PTAD beg pensioners over delayed October pension

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has apologized to Pensioners in the country over the delay in the payment of their pensions for the month of October 2017 attributing the delay to the changes in government financial management system.

    A statement from the agency made available to The Nation said that the agency received new guidelines from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation for them to migrate to a new system when some of its department had started loading payment to Pensioners.

    The statement appeals to all pensioners to remain calm as all efforts was being made to ensure the situation was resolved immediately and speed up their payment.

    The statement reads: “The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) apologizes to its pensioners under the defined benefit scheme for the delay in payment of their pension benefits for the month of October 2017. It is due to the new features introduced on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFMIS platform for financial transactions.

    “PTAD on Friday, October 27, 2017 received new guidelines issued from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on the new features which mandates it (like other employers) to integrate its pensioners into the cash management to employee payable procedures. All PTAD departments had uploaded payments to pensioners for the month of October but some are yet to finalize payment owing to this new features.

    “The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Barrister Sharon Ikeazor appeals to pensioners to remain calm as all efforts are being made to resolve and speed up payment. PTAD deeply regrets the inconvenience to our esteemed pensioners.”

  • PTAD advocates first line charge for pension payment

    PTAD advocates first line charge for pension payment

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is advocating for a first line charge for payment of pension to the nation’s senior citizens as a way of addressing the frequent non-payment of pension across the country.

    Executive Secretary of PTAD, Barrister Sharon Ikeazor who made the call while speaking at a stakeholders forum in Abuja said north states and Federal Government should make the payment of pension as a top priority, pointing out that making it a first line charge will ensure that pensioners are paid their entitlements before salaries of workers are paid.

    She disclosed that the agency is making frantic efforts to ensure that all arrears of 33 percent pension increase owed to Pensioners is paid to them, pointing out that police Pensioners were recently paid additional nine months of the 33 percent, leaving a balance of 30 months yet to be paid.

    Barrister Ikeazor also disclosed that the agency has recovered about N16 billion in funds and assets from the legacy pension funds and assets, most of which were from NICON Insurance.

    According to her. Various government anti-corruption agencies were working closely with PTAD in the fight against corruption to ensure that pension administration does not revert to its old method, while also working with PenCom to improve the agency’s overall compliance to match the Pension industry standards.

    She said the vision of the agency is to be the model Organisation for the delivery of innovative and sustainable pension services, pointing out that at the moment, the agency was not owing pensioners any monthly pension as this is paid to them promptly on a monthly basis.

    She said that the immediate plan of the agency was to secure funds to complete the ongoing verification exercise of federal government pensioners across the country, commence the verification of parastatal pensioners which she said has statutes with the verification of staff of some privatized agencies like the New Nigeria Newspapers, NICON Insurance and Re-Insurance.

    She said PTAD is also working to secure the release of additional funds and assets being held by insurance underwriters and the application of same to reduce inherited liability, improve service delivery turnaround for pensioners, expand state liaison offices and develop a social welfare package for verified pensioners.

    National President of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Dr Abel Afolayan commended the management of PTAD for the new innovation which ensures prompt payment of pensions and appealed to the government t to always make funds available to the agency to carry out its assigned responsibilities.

    Afolayan complained about the delay in the payment of the balance of 33 percent arrears of pension increase to police pensioners whom he said are going to through difficult times.

    He said “the police, whether in service or out of service does not protest. But we are prepared to protest on their behalf. We are appealing that this issue be looked into and other identified problems of pensioners also”.

  • PTAD cleared 15,600 ghost pensioners from FG payroll

    PTAD cleared 15,600 ghost pensioners from FG payroll

    The Pension Transitional Administration Directorate (PTAD) said it has discovered and removed 15,600 ghost pensioners from the Federal government payroll following verification exercises as part of efforts to sanitizing the payment of pensioners.

    Executive Secretary PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor said about 5,000 from New Nigerian Newspapers, Nicon Insurance, Nigerian ReInsurance and civilian retirees of Nigerian Defence Academy are undergoing final verification that started on Monday in Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja scheduled to end on Friday, she added that the pensioners once verified will enter the Federal government pension payroll within four months

    The PTAD boss told newsmen on Wednesday when she visited the NDA Staff Secondary School Kaduna where the verification is ongoing that the ghost pensioners were removed from the payroll in December 2016 because their accounts were not connected to any BVN numbers.

    According to her, when we took the ghost pensioners out of the payroll, there was no much outcry and only a few were actually genuine cases and they were put back on the payroll,” she said.

    Speaking further, she said that the present verification which is taking place simultaneously will not end there as the process is continuous,  adding that pensioners can visit their office in Abuja and Kaduna to complete their verification.

    “New Nigerian Newspapers is a special case, we have less than 700 pensioners in New Nigerian. We are doing it batch by batch. We are expecting 998 pensioners in Kaduna from the three agencies and about 5,000 in total.

    “We are conducting the entire verification for civil servants, police, parastatals and paramilitary. Civil service verification is expected to be concluded in 2018. We just began that of parastatals and hope to conclude it in 2018.

    “After the verification, there would be computation then after four months they would be on the payroll because it has to go through audit process before payment is made electronically. We maintain a TSA account with CBN and pensioners are paid from that account through e-payment,” she said.

    On the success of the ongoing verification, she said that well-articulated planning is making it successful. She, however, warned pensioners without BVN number to get one linked with their account as they cannot be paid without the BVN number. “We don’t have challenges because we planned and strategized ahead to have a seamless and smooth exercise.”

  • PTAD prepares 2500 new pensioners, others for payment

    PTAD prepares 2500 new pensioners, others for payment

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is preparing 2500 NICON Insurance defunct New Nigeria Newspaper, Nigeria Reinsurance and Nigerian Defence Academy (civilians) pensioners for payment by verifying them.

    The pensioners, many of who were owed gratuity and pension for about 18 years are from Federal Government owned agencies that were privatised.

    The Nation learnt that aside from several protest by these pensioners in the past, New Nigerian retirees to the court. Despite securing judgement that compels the government to pay them, they were ignored.

    PTAD Executive Secretary,  Sharon Ikeazor said the Directorate is verifying the pensioners who have not been paid nor put on payroll with a view to paying them their entitlement.

    She said there is plan to commence payment but have to  ensure that people that have made claims are genuine.

    Sfter the verification, genuine pensioners will be put on the payroll and receive all their entitlements.

    She added that the exercise is taking place simultaneously in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos is expected to last for six days.