…settles 16,873 others in NITEL, NNN, NICON RE, Delta Steel, NDA, FHA

By Soni Daniel
Abuja – The Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate has given reason why thousands of workers of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line are yet to be enrolled into the Defined Benefits Scheme for the purpose of getting their pension as their counterparts in similar agencies.

The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Barr. Sharon Ikeazor, said in a statement made available to Vanguard in Abuja on Wednesday that the delay in computing the pension of the NNSL ex-workers was due to non verification of the salary structure of the defunct agency many months after it got presidential approval to enrol the former workers.

*Officials of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, cataloging and digitizing pensioners’ files inherited from an old pension office in Lagos.

In the statement, Ikeazor made it clear that there was no deliberate attempt on the part of PTAD to unduly delay or deny the workers of the former shipping line their dues, adding that it was working round the clock to clear all obstacles against the settlement of their pay.

The PTAD boss pointed out that having successfully verified and settled the pension of 16,873 pensioners of seven other defunct privatised agencies, there was no reason not to capture and pay those of NNSL and others still outstanding.

Ikeazor said: “In the case of NNSL, the approval for enrolment was received in April 2018, several months after the first set of agencies was approved. The Directorate’s pre-verification exercise for pensioners is a long and painstaking inter-ministerial process that requires the collection of data and digitisation of documents.

“Most significantly, it requires getting the authentic salary structure of the agency concerned, which in the case of NNSL was not an easy feat. When PTAD eventually got a response in that regard from the Federal Ministry of Transport, representatives of the Union, whom the Directorate had been actively engaging with all along, declared the document incomplete, saying that it did not include the salary structure of its seamen, though PTAD is yet to receive any formal information from Federal Ministry of Transport regarding that allusion.

The statement by PTAD followed claims by the representatives of the NNSL ex-workers to the effect that the PTAD had deliberately delayed their enrolment into the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) and thereby frustrating the payment of N3 billion pension arrears owed to its members.

The agency claimed the allegation as incorrect, adding that the issue of enrolling pensioners of defunct/privatised agencies was part of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s commitment towards lifting pensioners, who had hitherto been neglected for over a decade out of poverty.

“This policy saw to the enrolment of pensioners of Delta Steel Company, Nicon Insurance, Nigeria Reinsurance, New Nigerian Newspapers and NITEL/MTEL, all agencies that were either privatised or liquidated by previous governments without contingency safety nets for the thousands of their hardworking Nigerian employees.

“Plans are already at advanced stages towards the verification and subsequent enrolment of qualified ex-workers of Savannah Sugar Company, Aluminium Smelter Company, NNSL and others as approved by the HMF.

“It is important to state that, the Directorate has to date, verified and put on monthly pension payroll, a total of 16,873 pensioners of the following seven (7) defunct/privatised agencies, and this is not including a total of 759 next of kins of deceased pensioners of these defunct agencies that had equally been paid their departed breadwinner’s final entitlements as follows: NITEL/MTEL 10,801, Delta Steel Company 3,593, NICON Insurance 949, Nigeria Reinsurance 292, New Nigeria Newspapers 507, Nigerian Defense Academy (Civilians) 79, Federal Housing Authority 652.

“Therefore, contrary to the unfortunate statement ascribed to certain representatives of ex-workers of NNSL, preparation for the verification of all treasury funded parastatals, including NNSL, has been completed and the exercise will commence shortly across the country. The programme schedule will also be released by the Directorate soon.
https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/ill-end-pensioners-sufferings-in-imo-nwosu/

“We therefore assure all pensioners that are yet to be verified that succour will soon come their way in conformity with the President’s commitment to improve the welfare of all Nigerians pensioners, especially those neglected by previous administrations,” PTAD said.
https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/pencom-approves-new-pfa-for-varsity-workers/