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Past pension overseers stole N4billion monthly – PRTT

By on January 23, 2013

Abdulrasheed Maina

The Pension Reform Task Force Team yesterday alleged that previous pension administrators embezzled about N4bn monthly from the national coffers.

The PRTT also said that about 38,000 pensioners took home their accumulated arrears. It said that another 50,000 retired pensioners have received their dues; they were said to had retired since 1968.

The PRTT spokesperson, Mr. Hassan Salihu speaking to journalists in Abuja during an interview alleged that the PRTT which was inaugurated in 2010, “inherited massive non-payment of pensioners from the former pension administrators, who were siphoning an average of about N4bn monthly.”

He said, “The PRTT has so far paid over 38,000 genuine pensioners their accrued harmonised arrears, which is the first in the history of governance in Nigeria that all pensioners are being paid. Also over 50,000 pensioners who were hitherto denied pensions since retirement as far back as 1968 have been pay rolled by the PRTT and since been paid their accrued arrears and are now collecting their monthly pensions.”

He also affirmed that the N4bn stolen monthly by past pension administrators has affected federal civil service pensioners so much that they most times make do without their pensions.

Salihu said, “That was the main reason for the large number of complaints that PRTT has been confronted with. Thus, since PRTT came in June 2010, there has been payment of regular monthly pension promptly; except for November and December 2012 that the Pension Office hijacked the preparation of the monthly pension. Hence, 95 per cent of pensioners have been grossly omitted and grossly underpaid.”

The PRTT representative said they had received many complaints from pensioners and they were seriously working on the complaints.

Salihu said, “PRTT has compiled so far a list over 1,600 pensioners’ arrears for payment before the end of January, 2013. At anytime, PRTT has a complaint, it treats on merit, and pensioners are instantly paid.”

On the task team’s plan, he said they had employed an Electronic Pension Management system to settle all its transactions to pensioners.

Salihu said, “The bank statement of a pensioner covering the period of complaints will be accessed by the complaints Unit. From there, the Computation Unit takes over and calculates all entitlements and it is then sent to the Audit Unit and from there to ICT Unit for input into EPMS platform and finally to the Head of Service of the Federation for approval of payment by various banks.”