In support of a refocused PTAD

Istrongly believe that one of the most successful decisions President Muhammadu Buhari has made as president was the appointment of Barrister Sharon Ikeazor as the Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). PTAD is actually an agency under the federal ministry of finance established in August, 2013 to manage pensions under the defined benefit scheme (DBS), for federal pensioners in Nigeria who retired on or before June 30, 2007 and did not transit to the new contributory pension scheme (CPS) which came into effect July 1, 2007.

Barrister Sharon Ikeazor has demonstrated deep awareness of the problems encountered by federal pensioners. Many Nigerian federal pensioners have lost their lives in this regard. Before the emergence of the emergence of President Buhari in 2015, pension management under the Defined Benefit Scheme no doubt, was among the items on the list of national embracement for Nigeria. This was mainly due to corruption and not lack of funds.

My grandfather, Late Alhaji Hassan Lemu, Mutawalin Nupe who was a Principal Private Secretary in the office of Late (Sir Ahmadu Bello) Premier of Northern Nigeria was a federal pensioner that retired in 1973. My grandfather was one of the most honest and dedicated civil servant I have seen in my life, but somehow he could not receive his federal pensions between July 2010 and January 2017. In fact he lost all hope and decided not to ask about his monthly pension benefit after several complaints.

Following a report by the Daily Trust newspaper over the pension problems of the late aide to Sardauna in early February 2017, Barrister Sharon responded with the deserved care and empathy. She personally called a family member on a mobile line the day the story was reported. She promised to send a mobile verification team as soon as possible to late Alhaji Lemu’s Minna residence which she did.

Within two weeks of the report, my grandfather, Late Alhaji Hassan Lemu who was already down with a terminal illness received his accrued pension payment of about seven years via his unity bank pension account. He was also appropriately returned to the pension payroll and therefore received his monthly pension regularly in full before he passed away on the 19th of March, 2017.

The response of Barrister Sharon and PTAD in respect of Alhaji Hassan Lemu is an unusual conduct by a public institution in Nigeria. In my own opinion Barrister Sharon, a Nigerian from south- east treated the problem of another Nigerian from north- central with maximum care and empathy is something the families of Late Alhaji Hassan Lemu will remember forever. She was to respond to others with pension arrears problems following the report.

Since her resumption on 5th of October, 2016 as Executive Secretary of PTAD, Barrister Sharon has undertaken many impactful reforms that have strengthened the management of pensions under the defined benefit scheme. Some of the key areas of her reforms include automation of the pension payment process and the use of government-to-person electronic payments, which enable pensioners to receive their payment directly into their bank accounts from PTAD’s TSA account with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

There is also the prompt payment of monthly pensions to verified pensioners. By working closely with stakeholders, PTAD has ensured (as long as money is available) that pensioners are paid through the budget office from 25th of every month without delay.

Equally commendable was the digitization of pensions data and records for the creation of a clean DBS data-base through the conversion of thousands of old physical pension service file to e-files, PTAP is able to create a robust database of all pensioners information (includes biometrics, photo and documentation) details, such that they do don’t need to undergo the verification process again.

Other landmarks achievements her administrations were the introduction of a client-focused service orientation which provides pensioners with conducive seating atmosphere during verification, food and water as well as wheel chair inclusive to those of them who are physically challenged even as infirmed pensioners are verified at their home or hospital to ensure they are captured and of course the automated computation of benefit initiative through which pensioners benefits are calculated quickly and accurately using available data provided during verification.

The combine effect of these reforms are expected to enable PTAD create permanent credible Data base of the records of pensioners under DBS and ensure that pensioners are not asked to come out again for such a detailed exercise. This will also enable PTAD to eliminate duplicate payments and ghost pensioners as well as regularize anomalies such as over payments and under payments.

I was privileged to attend the recently organize PTAD stakeholders forum held on Friday 6th of October, 2017 at the International Conference Center, Abuja. One of the key revelations from the conference was that all the stakeholders under the DBS including the representatives from the National Assembly were delighted with the performance of Barrister Sharon Ikeazor and PTAD in general. She has actually proven to be the mother and daughter of all Nigerian pensioners.

Under her leadership, PTAD is working very hard to resolve the numerous cases of omissions through the ongoing nationwide verification exercise of the federal pensioners under DBS.

I cannot conclude this discussion without expressing our family’s gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Barrister Ikeazor as Executive Secretary of PTAD. Our gratitude and appreciation also goes to all the staff of PTAD for their operational efficiency which resulted in the payment of 7 years accrued pensions of Late Alhaji Hassan Lemu and his recapture to Federal Pension payroll before his demise. Lemu is a Polytechnic, Bida. lecturer with Federal