PTAD verifies 55,400 civil service pensioners

Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, the Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), says the directorate has verified 55,400 pensioners under the Civil Service nationwide.

Ikeazor said in Abuja on Tuesday that PTAD had also captured 21,123 pensioners from the South-South zone representing 91 per cent of those captured.

She said 4,000 new pensioners were brought into the payroll in 2016 following the field verification conducted in 2015.

“The pensioners are now enjoying their regular monthly pensions and many have received their arrears.

“The next step is to verify Lagos, Southwest and North Central’’ she said.

Ikeazor said that the directorate through its IT Department uncovered 15,000 unverified names on the payroll who did not have Bank Verification Numbers and eliminated them.

She added that PTAD had transferred the savings from those eliminated from the payroll to those who had never received payment and those with outstanding benefits.

She explained that as the directorate worked to complete the verification more names would be dropped from the payroll.

Ikeazor said PTAD had paid 12 months of 33 per cent pension increase arrears to retired staff of some parastatal agencies but still owed them for 39 months.

She also said the directorate was owing Civil Service pensioners 24 months arrears and police pensioners 39 months but had completed the payment of the arrears for paramilitary pensioners.

She said that the pension Reform Act of 2014 mandates PTAD to take over all pension assets, funds and liabilities of erstwhile Pension Offices and Boards of parastatals.

Ikeazor explained that these offices and boards were quick to transfer liabilities to PTAD, while the funds and assets had not been forthcoming.

She said PTAD took over the pension management of parastatals, universities and colleges of education in August 2015 but that legacy funds amounting to N19.14 billion had remained in the custody of the insurance companies.

She said that the directorate had issued demand notices on the companies involved to transfer the outstanding funds to ‘’our dedicated e-Collection account with the CBN “.

Ikeazor said that till date only Leadway Assurance had paid funds in its custody into the account.

She said PTAD was making arrangements with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that all outstanding legacy funds were transferred to it.

She said the recovery of the funds would enable PTAD to pay some off government’s liabilities arising from the non-payment of pensions.

She said the organisation was doing everything possible to be fraud free with the assistance of anti-corruption agencies.

Ikeazor said PTAD last week sacked five directors who gained employment after 50 years against the civil service rule and had appointed five acting directors.

She listed the acting directors as Charles Wali (Parastatals), Dogo Williams (Civil Service) and Ada Phil Ugochukwu (Pension Support Service).

Others are Ahmed Ekpolomo (Paramilitary), and Sulayman Shelleng (Police).