Contributory pension scheme, panacea to pension problems – PTAD
Story from Najibullahi ADAMU, Gombe
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has asserted that a contributory pension scheme is the only solution to the problem associated with the payment of pensions and gratuities of retired civil servants in the country.
Executive Secretary of PTAD Dr Chioma Ejikeme made the assertion yesterday during a two-day interactive engagement forum for Northeast stakeholders on pension.
She said PTAD came about as a result of pensions reforms and was mandated to take care of pensioners who are not into a contributory pension scheme and those who retired or were disengaged from defunct federal agencies.
“Contributory pension scheme is the way to go, is the way forward for pension administration in Nigeria. Like everything new, it is going to take people a little time to understand the dynamics”. She said.
The PTAD boss who said that the organization declared a state of emergency in the civil service pension department in 2020 to validate pensioners on payroll added that at the end of the project, they paid over 24, 000 pensioners a sum of N7 billion.
Chioma stated that as part of measures to tackle the issue of ghost pensioners and ensure that dead people do not continue to receive the money, PTAD has launched a policy tagged ‘I am alive’ where retirees would submit their data online to confirm that they are not dead.
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Also speaking, the National Assistant Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) Ahmed Gazali advised states governments to also key into contributory pension scheme as a way of addressing problems associated with pensions and gratuities.
He said that some states governors are doing well in terms of regular payment of pensions but lamented that many do not pay gratuities to retirees.
“Averagely, payment of monthly pensions in all the states is forthcoming. But the major challenge is the accumulated arrears of gratuity. So, if states governors can key into the contributory pension scheme, it will help”.
