•‘391 NoKs make false claims’
No fewer than 847 death claims and gratuities have been cancelled by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) under its Expanded Next of Kin (NoK) and Gratuity Project Progress.
PTAD also discovered 391 Next of Kins (NoKs) who made false claims for death benefits previously paid.
Sequel to the commencement of the project last December, the Directorate said it had paid N395.55 million as death benefits and gratuity to 238 beneficiaries, representing 184 NoKs and 54 pensioners.
In the document updating relevant stakeholders of the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) entitled: “Expanded NoK & Gratuity Project Progress Report as at July 22, 2024”, PTAD stated that as at July 19, 2024, the project processed a total 6,210 files.
The document read: “Out of the 6,210 processed files, 391 Next of Kin(s) with complaints of non-payment of death benefit(s) were found to have previously been fully paid further to comprehensive review of their respective claims.
“Also, 847 claims of death benefits and gratuity were disqualified for various reasons. We plan to forward the outcome of the review to claimant(s) and the pension unions for them to disseminate the information to the NoKs and pensioners.
“Similarly, 1,961 out of the 3,002 files noted to require additional documents were contacted by the Project’s dedicated Correspondence Team via phone-calls and emails. Out of which only 423 were able to provide some or all of the requested documents, representing 21.6 per cent compliance.’’
PTAD stated that 1,041 cases were unreachable via phone-calls, emails and residential addresses which were provided during verification, adding the project will, however, continue to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that these NoKs and pensioners are contacted and informed of the documentary requirements.
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PTAD further stated that 45 NoKs were newly verified further to the authentication of claims brought forward to the Directorate by pension unions, service-retiring Ministries Departments Agencies (MDAs) and some estates of deceased PTAD pensioners. These files will further be subjected to other process flows before claims are fully validated and subsequently paid, PTAD said.
“Benefis owed to 1,041 NoKs or pensioners have so far been computed and passed, out of which a total of 238 beneficiaries representing 184 NoKs and 54 gratuity that were able to meet the statutory documentary requirements precedent to payment have been paid of N395.55 million.
“Also, 802 of the 1,041 computed and passed benefits await the provision of other secondary documentary requirements 446 of which being validation and authentication of LOA across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. PTAD has sent out 1,737 Letters of Administration (LOAs) for validation across the 37 High Courts of Justice in the 36 states and the FCT and has received about 48 per cent of the aforementioned. The Directorate will continue to work with the High Courts of Justice to ensure that the outcome of validation of Letters of Administration in favour of the NoKs are confirmed within the shortest time.
“Six payments from the publication made in May 2024 failed due to system error, these payments have been represented and updated in this publication. On a final note, the Project will continue to walk the talk as has been the tradition of the PTAD. Should you require any further clarification(s) on the subject, please do not hesitate to contact the Directorate’s Project through the following chan
