THE opposition against the Abdulrasheed Maina led Pension Reform Task Force, PRTF, Team, has remained unabated and appears to be thickening by the day.

This time around, it is the  federal civil service Pensioners that are demanding for its sack.

This came on the day the National Pension Commission, PenCom, announced that President Goodluck Jonathan released the sum N34 billion for the commission to pay qualified federal government retirees whose pension has been outstanding.

PenCom said the approval for payment of pensioners followed the recommendation of the Co-coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, on the submission made by the Commission to the Government on the status of the account and the huge deficit therein.

Besides some of the aggrieved para-military and other Federal retirees who had called for the disbandment of PRTF, it will be recalled  that the Senate Joint Committee On Establishment, and Public Service; State and Local Governments had in early July called  for the dissolution of the Pension Reform Team, and  arrest and prosecution of members of the Team after investigating it.

Last week, the Joint Committee of Association of Federal Pensioners who took to the street to demand for the payment of their pension allowances, called for the dissolution of the PRTF team.

*Cross section of pensioners defying the downpour during a peaceful protest against non-payment of their entitlements at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

The pensioners, who gathered outside the office of the Head of Service at the Federal Secretariat, chanted “Maina must go” and displayed several placards to back up their demands, lamenting that the task force had failed the pensioners and inflicted hardships on them unnecessarily.

Chairman of the committee, James Bassey while calling for the dissolution of PRTF, argued that it had created more problems for the pensioners instead of solving them.

He said “we request for the dissolution of this pension task force while immediate consideration is given for the creation of a civilian pensions board.”

Bassey contended that the management of the defunct Pay As You Go scheme by the Office of the Head of Service, HOS, of the Federation was inefficient and cumbersome, demanding that the payment of the pension  be placed under the Civilian Pension Board in line with the provisions of Pension Reform Act, PRA, of 2004.

However, the leadership of PRTF, was quoted to have explained that the payment of arrears was delayed due to the fact that it decided to pay it  in batches  after thoroughly vetting their claims.

FG approves N34bn for payment of retirees’ benefits

PenCom in a statement by Emeka Onuora, its , Communication Unit, said that the Federal Government has, consistently and religiously, been setting aside 5 per cent of its total monthly wage bill into the Retirement Bond Redemption Account with the Central bank of Nigeria for the settlement of the accrued pension rights of its employees since the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme as required by the Pension Reform Act, 2004.

The statement said  “the government pension Account has been overstretched in recent years with the upsurge of retirements from the Federal Civil Service occasioned by the tenure policy, voluntary retirements and thousands of unredeemed death benefit claims resulting into heavy back log of arrears that cannot be accommodated due to paucity of Funds in the Account, giving rise to untold hardship to these people, this special positive intervention by Mr. President would go a long way in settling those outstanding payments to those categories of beneficiaries and alleviating their sufferings”.

“The Commission would like to commend Mr. President’s magnanimity and deep sympathy to the plight of the retirees and Next of Kins of deceased employees of the Federal Government as glaringly manifested by promptly and graciously granting approval for this amount to be released to settle those arrears.

Our appreciation also goes to the Coordinator for the Economy and Hon. Minister of Finance for her continued support to pension reform and commitment in addressing the plight of the retirees. Our special thanks go to the thousands of retirees and NOKs of deceased employees for their patience and understanding with the Commission during this trying period.”