By Olasunkanmi Akoni
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will on Friday present another Retirement Bond Certificates, RBCs, worth N2, 287, 787, 241 to the fourth batch of retired public servants under the state’s Contributory Pension Scheme.

The Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, LASPEC, Mr. Rotimi Hussain who disclosed this, said 471 retirees would be presented with the RBCs as a follow-up to the third retirement bond presentation ceremony which took place on July 19, 2011.

Hussain said the present administration had been consistent with its commitment to implementing the provisions of the Lagos State Pension Reforms Act 2007.

He noted that the dedication had made Lagos State the only State in the country to have issued RBCs consecutively for the fourth time.

He said, “The trend at which Lagos State has been redeeming retirement bonds has been remarkable and steady increase since inception. We started by redeeming N412, 878, 986. 80k, to 105 retirees, followed by N887, 362, 600. 56k to second batch of 217 retirees and N2, 98, 568, 804, 94k to the third batch of retirees in the scheme. With this fourth batch, Lagos State would have redeemed a total sum of N5, 786, 597, 633. 66k to 1,121 retirees.”

Reiterating the need for every contributor to prepare a WILL as a matter of necessity to avoid problem for his or her next-of-kin, Hussain said that “many next-of-kins are facing difficulties accessing the estate of their lost ones who died”, stressing that “WILL is of great importance to contributors and retirees under the contributory pension scheme.”

Hussain explained that preparation of a “WILL does not mean one has a death wish, pointing out that the WILL would afford the beneficiaries the benefits of gaining uninterrupted access to the estate of a deceased contributor.

Where there is no WILL, the law establishing the pension scheme stipulates that there must be a letter of Administration which entails a strenuous process and sometimes difficult to meet the terms and conditions associated with its issuance.”