*220,000 captured, 9000 ghost pensioners dropped

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, has adopted a tough policy to sanitize the administration of pension in the country and give a new lease of life to pensioners nationwide.

To this end, the new leadership of PTAD, led by Sharon Ikeazor, has opted to make the use of Biometric Verification Number, BVN, an indispensable instrument in the processing and payment of pensions to retirees nationwide.

Ikeazor, who is the Executive Secretary of PTAD, told media heads in Abuja at the weekend that BVN had been adopted as one of the compulsory requirements that retirees must possess to be captured in its database and be paid their entitlements.

Ikeazor disclosed that no fewer than 9000 questionable names had been dropped from the PTAD database as a result of the absence of BVN during verification and that more of such doubtful names would be removed as the agency moved to consolidate its database for efficient pension management in Nigeria.

Ikeazor disclosed that from the verification so far carried out by PTAD, a total of 220,000 pensioners had been established on the database as efforts were being made to extend the exercise to the North East, South South and other parts of the country next year.