Our plans for Nigerian pensioners – PTAD

The Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Sharon Ikeazor, yesterday said that part of the future plans of the directorate for Nigerian pensioners was to ensure that pension arrears were significantly reduced while payments were prioritized monthly.

Ikeazor said in the past eight months, the PTAD had paid N14 billion to over 99,000 civil service pensioners (including pension and gratuity) as well as pension of retired federal permanent secretaries and heads of service under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

Ikeazor spoke on Monday in Enugu during a stakeholders’ engagement forum organize by PTAD for pensioners in the south-East zone.

According to her, PTAD will seek to secure the release of funds to complete the payment of 33 per cent arrears.

She said other plans included developing a National Health Insurance Scheme enrollment package for the verified pensioners by working closely with the NHIS, improving service delivery turnaround for pensioners’ complaints, expansion of state liaison offices to improve pensioners’ access to PTAD services.

She explained that upon the completion of enrolling ‘genuine’ pensioners in the PTAD’s payroll, over 19,000 pensioners who had over the years been denied their pensions were placed on the payroll and paid their pension arrears.

“The computation of verified pensioners is still ongoing and more qualified pensioners will be pay rolled,” she added.

She said under the parastatals pensioners, the directorate had successfully computed and payrolled a total of 3,530 pensioners from the defunct Delta Steel Company (DSC), stressing that the development had ended the 13 years long wait experienced by the workers affected by the privatization exercise in 2005.