By Favour Nnabugwu

Industrial and General Insurance Plc, IGI has escaped the sledge hammer of the Senate Joint Committee probing the administration of pensions in the country as the insurance company was not indicted in the late disbursement of pensions to the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) pensioners.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, absolved IGI of blame on the disbursement of pension payment to NIPOST, rather blamed the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF)  for late release of funds as the AGF office was said to release pension funds meant for the months of January, February and March in the month of May.

The chairman said it was obvious that the delay in the payment of pension was from the AGF Office which did not disburse fund to IGI as at when due. “You collected your salaries up to date but delayed the payment of retirees’ pension from January till May. This is wickedness, considering that you and the retirees go to the same market and pay the same amount for items procured.”

Etok called for confirmation from the representative of PenCom, Mrs. G. E. Usoro, who corroborated IGI’s claim, stressing that the company was not responsible for the failure of some pensioners to receive their entitlements. She attributed the complaints to lack of communication.

In his presentation before the committee, IGI’s Acting Managing Director, Mr. Rotimi Fashola, revealed that the the underwriters received N240 million allocation for the first quarter of the year (January-March) on May 18, 2012.

Fashola also explained that IGI does not deal directly with pensioners, but with their Board of Trustees (BOT). “It is only the BOT that we relate with and, over the past 10 years that IGI has been involved in the administration of pension funds, the BOT has always acknowledged us as a responsive and responsible organisation.”

On the complaints and protests from other parastatals’ pension schemes, Fashola explained that the issue the pensioners under those schemes were complaining about emanated from the transfer of pension assets to First Pension Custodian Limited through IGI Pension Fund Managers Limited, as directed by the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).