FG Pays N23bn To Pensioners In Three Months

About N22. 45bn was paid to pensioners by the Federal
Government under the Defined Benefit Scheme between
January and March this year .
Figures obtained from the Pension Transitional
Arrangement Directorate on Friday showed that the amount
was paid to pensioners that were confirmed as genuine
retirees after the recent verification .
An
analysis of the amount showed that N6 .66bn was paid to
civil service pensioners ; N12.25bn to parastatal pensioners ;
N1.86 bn to the Customs , Immigration and Prisons Pension
Office ; and N1.68bn for police pensioners .
Statistics from PTAD showed that during the three month
period, N2.21bn was paid in January to 111 , 525 civil service
pensioners and 219 retired permanent secretaries and head
of service ; N2.2 bn was paid in February to 111, 507 civil
service pensioners and 218 retired permanent secretaries
while N2.2bn was paid in March to 111, 484 civil service
pensioners .
For civil servants under the Treasury Funded Parastatals
Pension Department, the sum of N2 .12bn was paid to 111, 525
pensioners in January ; in February and March , they had
N2.21 bn and N2. 2bn , respectively .
Speaking on the development, the Executive Secretary ,
PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor , said that the Federal Government
had yet to clear the outstanding 33 per cent arrears for civil
service pensioners ( 12 months outstanding) , parastatal
pensioners ( 18-36 months outstanding ) and police ( 12
months outstanding) .
She said the directorate had been doing everything possible
to clear the outstanding pensions , adding that the arrears of
paramilitary pensioners had been cleared in full.
The PTAD boss said that the agency was implementing a
comprehensive data management system.
Ikeazor said under the data management system, over
19, 000 pensioners whose accounts did not have the required
Bank Verification Number were identified and suspended
from the government payroll.
She added that the pensioners that were suspended for lack
of the BVN would only be reinstated after providing their
BVN and undergoing due verification .
She said a
continuous
quality
assurance
process
would be
applied to
identify any
unqualified
pensioner
on the
pension
database .
Apart from
the 19, 000 pensioners without the BVN, Ikeazor said that
about 22, 021 who did not show up during the nationwide
verification had been suspended from the payroll.
She said , “ PTAD has successfully added 7, 969 verified civil
service pensioners to the payroll. These are pensioners who
were verified in the South - West and North- Central in Q 4
2017.
“ Before this addition , over 19, 500 verified civil service
pensioners from the North- West, South -East , North-East and
South -South had been reinstated and paid their arrears .
“ Also ongoing is the computation of benefits for over 5, 000
verified civil service pensioners . This will conclude the
payroll of all verified civil service pensioners .
“ We have also added over 700 verified parastatal pensioners
from the Federal Housing Authority to the payroll to begin
to receive monthly pensions .”