Pension Transitional Arrangements Directorates PTAD has sincerely hoped that the next administration, and who emerges as the President come 2023 elections, will be as favourably disposed towards the pensioners of the Defined Benefit Scheme as President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration have been.
PTAD Executive Secretary, Dr Chioma Ejikeme who made this known at the South-South Stakeholders Engagement Forum held in Calabar, Cross Rivers recently, said the need to have a President who listens to the needs of pensioners cannot be overemphasized.
According to her, “As we enter the campaign and election season, it is pertinent that pensioners should engage the contestants at the Federal and State levels, to find out their position or antecedents in pension management, and get a firm commitment from them regarding the welfare of pensioners.
“We cannot afford to go back to the time when the DBS pensioners were owed months of pension arrears and their needs pushed to back-burner, as it was done in the past. Hoping that the next administration, and who emerges as the President, will be as favourably disposed towards the pensioners of the Defined Benefit Scheme as this administration has been”, she added.
She made it clear that through the unwavering support of President Buhari, PTAD completely liquidated the inherited unfunded liabilities of all the Defunct/ Privatised agencies handed over to them, with the exception of NITEL/MTEL, which the Directorates is fully committed to liquidating.
She recalled how the Defined Benefits Scheme in the past was fraught with allegations of fraud, corruption and inefficiencies prior to the establishment of the Directorate.
“However, the controls and processes that have been put in place since the establishment of PTAD have contributed immensely to the change being witnessed in the management of the Defined Benefits Pension scheme as at today.
“The hard work of PTAD over the years is now paying off and in the course of the presentations we are going to make here today, you will get to understand the enormity of the challenges inherited by PTAD at inception. You will then appreciate the sheer volume of overhaul that PTAD has had to carry out, in order to get to where we are today”.
Highlighting the series of activities the Directorates carried out, Dr Ejikeme mentioned the completion of the payment of arrears arising as a result of consequential adjustment to pensions as a result of increase in minimum wage of April 2019 to the four operational departments in the Directorate.
“Complete liquidation of the 126 months outstanding liabilities due to ex-workers of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation. Complete payment of the 219 months of inherited liabilities to Ex-workers of New Nigeria Newspaper Limited. Complete payment of the 100 months of inherited liabilities to Ex-workers of NICON Insurance.
“Complete payment of the 96 months of inherited liabilities to Ex-workers of Delta Steel Company (DSC) Implemented the 9.7% increment to Ex-PHCN workers with attendant arrears paid.Part-payment of the arrears owed NITEL/MTEL pensioners”, she listed.
She stated futher that two weeks ago, another 15 months arrears payment were made to 5,907 pensioners out of the outstanding sixty-three (63) months of the inherited unfunded pension liabilities, adding that the remaining half of the NITEL/MTEL pensioners will get their 15 months arrears’ payment soon.
The ES revealed further that after the launch of “I AM Alive” confirmation solution and the successful completion of the Pilot Phase where the application on 50, 000 pensioners were tested randomly-selected from the four (4) Operational Department and the six (6) Geo-political zones.
She announced that PTAD is ready for the full rollout of the solution. “In line with our resolve to make the process as seamless as possible for our pensioners, PTAD has trained the Pension Desk Officers of the various institutions and organisations where our pensioners retired from, as well as Pension Union Executives from the six geo-political zones on the Solution. The training is to enable them assist pensioners who are unable to carry out the “I Am Alive” confirmation on their own”.
She used this opportunity to continue to sensitise the pensioners against patronising pension fraudsters, saying no staff of PTAD will call or send any message to you requesting for payment or ask you to call a certain phone number before your arrears or gratuity will be paid.