The Executive Secretary (ES) of PTAD Dr. Chioma Ejikeme has revealed the directorate had received repatriated funds to the tune of £26.5m and the directorate has been able to settle 18 out of the 24 months arrears from the consequential adjustment across all the operational departments.
She disclosed that the monies were invested with Crown Agents Investment Management Limited in the United Kingdom at a two-day stakeholder meeting with pensioners in the North Central zone in Ilorin over the weekend.
“We were able to reclaim pension monies that had previously been held outside of the nation.” We’ve also collected monies from insurance underwriters who worked for the defunct business before it was privatized. We’ve been pursuing the insurance underwriters, and two of them have paid off their PTAD debts. And we’re following in the footsteps of the others.”
The ES also disclosed the commencement of an expanded re-validation and re-computation exercise in 2020 by PTAD. She said “In 2020, I also approved the start of an expanded revalidation and re-computation exercise for civil service pensioners and their next-of-kin in order to onboard verified pensioners who are not on the payroll, clear all outstanding pension arrears, and resolve all complaints of short payments and outstanding gratuities for civil service pensioners and their next-of-kin (NoKs).
“The directorate was able to evaluate, compute, re-compute, and pay nearly N7 billion to 24,000 retirees by the end of the initiative. This computation is still going on. In October 2020, over 21,000 unconfirmed pensioners were removed from the payroll. Over 2,500 people who were dropped in October have been vetted and reinstated on the payroll, with the resulting arrears reimbursed.”
The Executive Secretary also revealed that PTAD has been able to pay pensioners 18 out of the 24 months arrears as a result of the consequential adjustment.
“Following an increase in salaries for some Federal Government employees in 2019 as a result of the national minimum wage review, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) established a committee to review the pension and come up with an appropriate and realistic measure to increase the amount paid as pension to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme. President Muhammadu Buhari gave his consent for the upward review in May 2021, and we immediately started paying.
“Across all operating departments, we have successfully paid 18 of the 24 months’ outstanding arrears from the consequential adjustment. The remaining six months will be paid before the end of the year.”
She went on to disclose that the directorate has launched the “I Am Alive” confirmation platform, which is an online application that confirms that seniors “on our monthly pension payroll are alive and should continue to receive their pension.
