Investigations have shown that the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has been paying monthly pensions to all pensioners on its payroll, despite the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) continuing to call on state governments to save the lives of their counterparts in states by paying the many months of pension arrears owed them.
The pension agency recently boasted that it owed no pensioners on its payroll any monthly payments. In his pursuit of the truth, our reporter learned that since the Directorate took over pension payments in 2014, it has revolutionized the management of the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) and ensured that monthly pension payments are quick, consistent, and uninterrupted.
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According to research, in the month of June 2022, PTAD paid 229,256 verified and eligible pensioners across the Civil Service, Police, parastatals, Customs, Immigration, and Prisons Pension Departments a total of N9,254,780,094.96 as monthly pension, while N351,264,285.17 was paid as pension arrears to 3,089 pensioners.
It was also found that instances of failed pension payments to pensioners across pension departments in June 2022 were also represented on the GIFMIS payment platform, and the affected pensioners verified receiving the payments.
Additionally, PTAD completed the payment of all inherited liabilities due to former employees of two of the defunct agencies in December 2021, thanks to the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Central Bank of Nigeria. In particular, 287 pensioners from the Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation received payments totaling N948,054,514.20, and 509 pensioners from the New Nigeria Newspapers Limited received payments totaling N2,134,845,781.70.
Ex-employees of three defunct agencies received payments totaling a sizeable amount of the outstanding liabilities: A total of N11,685,740,544.38 was paid to 11,239 NITEL/MTEL pensions; 1,046 NICON Insurance Corporation pensioners also received payment.
3,657 pensioners from Delta Steel Company Limited received N1,821,842,463.93 while receiving N1,140,333,806.20.
Similar to this, and following the implementation of a 9.7% increase for ex-PHCN employees, PTAD paid a total of N6,889,617,482.86 to the 9,389 qualified ex-PHCN retirees in December 2021.
Additionally, PTAD has finished paying all pension arrears owed to retirees as a result of the consequential pension adjustment that the president approved in April 2021 but took effect in April 2019.
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The PTAD paid all 24-month arrears owed to pensioners of three pension departments in December 2021, with the exception of Civil Service Pensioners, who had a three-month balance that was paid in May 2022.
The agency once acknowledged that between 2015 and 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment was the reason it was able to reinstate 40,918 verified eligible pensioners to the monthly pension payroll, pay N40,332,909,500.42 in pension arrears to 161,122 verified eligible pensioners across the four pension departments, and pay N7,134,360,136.45 in final pension entitlements to next of kin of deceased pensioners across the four pension departments.
