The “I Am Alive” Confirmation Solution (IAAC) was initiated to ease Pensioners’ stress, pain of going through rigorous verification of their aliveness according the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr. Chioma Ejikeme.
IAAC was fully commissioned on Friday 13th April, 2023 in Abuja, an online application platform designed to enable Pensioners under Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) confirm their aliveness from the comfort of their homes or neighbourhood, using either a smart phone or a computer system.
Recall from inception, PTAD has embarked on massive verification exercises which took place between 2014 and 2019 across geopolitical zones of Nigeria and cut across all the operational departments of the Directorate.
Namely: The Civil Service Pension Department, The Police Pension Department, The Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department, and finally, The Parastatals Pension Department.
While the aim of the verification exercises was to ascertain eligible pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme, enroll eligible pensioners who were hitherto not on the Directorate’s Payroll and promptly removing the unqualified.
The PTAD ES pointed out that continuing with periodic field verifications to ascertain the aliveness of pensioners is not only expensive both for the Pensioners and government is also a stressful exercise for the senior citizens.
Looking for a solution that would eliminate field verifications became imperative now gave birth to I Am Alive Confirmation (IAAC) Solution and the journey to test and provide this Solution has taken PTAD over eighteen months.
On October 12, 2021, the Directorate officially launched the Pilot Phase of the “I Am Alive” Confirmation (IAAC) Solution tested with fifty thousand randomly-selected pensioners across four operational departments and six geo-political zones aimed at testing its efficacy and user- friendliness.
The Pilot Phase was largely successful, the teething challenges have been identified and resolved and PTAD fully roll-out the I Am Alive Confirmation (IAAC) solution to its pensioners believing is the way forward as far as validation of the Aliveness of the Pensioners is concerned.
Dr Ejikeme assured that the IAAC solution is designed with pensioners’ utmost welfare in mind, leveraging on accuracy, reliability, user -friendliness and convenience. “PTAD has over the years promised the era of bringing out our aged pensioners for field verification is over, and we are standing by this promise”, she said.
The IAAC Solution is available to all verified Pensioners across the four Pension Departments. It is simple and easy to use, and short video provided for instructions while it can be accessed using a smart mobile phone, desktop or any computer device that has Internet access.
Simply go to www.ptad.gov.ng, scroll down and click on “I Am Alive” link at the bottom. If it is a Desktop, the link will be at the top right. Pensioner’s Bank Account number needed only during verification used for receiving pension, and the Pensioner’s number on the Verification Acknowledgement Slip are required.
PTAD warned that BVN, ATM Card number or PIN does not needed to process the IAAC Solution, beware of fraudsters. “Once you have logged in, follow the prompts. It is important to let our Pensioners know that nobody can tamper with your pension payment through “I Am Alive” platform”, ES guaranteed.
The benefits of the IAAC Solution to DBS Pensioners and the Federal Government are huge, first Goverment funding of pensions will be accurately estimated as deceased pensioners are immediately removed from the Payroll. Funding for field verification will be completely eliminated.
Also, Pensioners are no longer required to travel long distances with the attendant stress, inconvenience to attend verification exercises. The result of “I Am Alive” Confirmation (IAAC) Solution is received via SMS to the phone of the Pensioner.
To ensure efficient, effective delivery, the availability of the Confirmation program has been staggered according to departments as follows: Police Pensioners, 14th April, 2023 to 13th October, 2023.
“Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pensioners, 1st June, 2023 to 31st December, 2023. Civil Service Pensioners 1st July, 2023 to 31st January, 2024 and Parastatals Pensioners 1st August, 2023 to 28th February, 2024.
Dr Ejikeme noted that PTAD has provided a six-month grace period for every department and their pensioners to complete their “I Am Alive” Confirmation (IAAC) Solution, stating that the Directorate has trained Pension Desk Officers from the Ministries.
The “I Am Alive” Confirmation (IAAC) Solution is free, PTAD does not charge fee for this confirmation and no PTAD staff will ask for payment to process your pension or arrears, anyone who demands for payment from you is a fraudster and should be reported immediately.