•Lauds Buhari for regular pensions payment

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, has said pensioners’ welfare remains its priority.

It appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the President has since the inception of his administration placed payment of pensions on first line charge.

The PTAD Executive Secretary, ES, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, spoke at the Northeast stakeholders’ engagement forum in Yola.

Ejikeme said the commitment of PTAD to the welfare of pensioners remained sacrosanct.

The ES assured that the department would continue to hold meetings and other engagements with various pension unions to ensure quality service delivery.

According to her “We also appreciate the support of our able supervisory Minister, Accountant General of the Federation, and all our other major stakeholders who have made the modest successes achieved by PTAD possible.

“It is our prayer that the President-Elect will be as favourably disposed towards the pensioners of the Defined Benefit Scheme,DBS, as the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been.

“We cannot afford to go back to the time when the DBS pensioners were owed months of pension arrears and their needs pushed to the back burner.”

Ejikeme noted that PTAD had conducted a series of activities since the last stakeholders’ forum in January 2022 to improve the welfare of pensioners in the country.

According to her, the directorate provided a six-month grace period for every department and its pensioners to complete its “I Am Alive Confirmation” solution.

The Executive Secretary said the period for police pensioners is slated for April 14 to October 13, 2023; Custom, Immigration, and Prison from June 1 to December 31, 2023; Civil Service from July 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024, and parastatals from August 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024.

Speaking, the North-East Zonal Head of, the National Pension Commission, PenCom, Hajiya Sa’adatu Abubakar, commended PTAD for ensuring prompt payment of pensions.

Abubakar also urged the incoming administration to give the welfare of workers and pensioners the desired attention.

The Deputy National President, of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Muhammad Halliru, acknowledged that PTAD is doing well for pensioners.

Halliru however called for improvement where necessary to ease the lives of pensioners in the country.