CEM REPORT, FINANCE | 7,091 pensioners from the Power and Transport Sectors within the Parastatals Pensions Department (PaPD) have received their share of ₦1.023 billion.
The disbursed funds by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is 39 per cent of the pension arrears accumulated by pensioners from August 2015 to September 2023.
According to PTAD’s Head of Corporate Communications, Gbenga Ajayi, the arrears were determined through a PTAD-conducted back-end calculation. He noted that PTAD’s investigation unveiled a payroll issue in which 7,091 pensioners in the sector were receiving insufficient payments, underscoring the need for corrective action.
The monthly pension amount for PaPD retirees was derived by computing their pension based on their career details, salary structure, as well as any applicable pension increases.
According to Ajayi, the back-end computation was mandatory to ensure that each pensioner earned an accurate pension for fairness, equity and justice.
Meanwhile, the Federal Civil Service Pensioners Branch (FCSPB) of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), has called for the immediate review of pension benefits in line with constitutional provisions.
The body decried that some pensioners currently receive as low as N10,000 as a monthly pension, noting that the sum was intangible in the face of current economic realities.
National Chairman, Sunday Omezi, emphasised that the review of pensions remained a constitutional provision that should be carried out in every five years, without any salary adjustment in the system.
He noted that the last pension review took place in 2010, adding that “as we speak, we have outstanding of 2015, 2010 because it should happen every five years”.
The body appealed to the reappointed Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Chioma Ejikeme to initiate the review and present it to the federal government for approval.
While we haven’t heard pensioners in recent times storming government offices in demand for their pension, 39 per cent payment of arrears accumulated by pensioners from August 2015 to September 2023 but not good enough.
Cost of living has gone beyond what these pensioners knew it to be when they retired from service. If those in active service are lamenting over the cost of living and organised labour is pressuring the government for an increase in the minimum wage in order to meet the rising cost, how much more pensioners.
