The Federal Government, Wednesday, said it is working with relevant government agencies to clear the backlogs of outstanding pension arrears of retirees of Federal Government agencies.
In a statement in Abuja, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, disclosed that the Federal Government had regularly made monthly pension payments to all retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS, on PTAD payroll.
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PTAD was reacting to complaints by Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, and the Federal Universities Pensioners Association, FUPA, over the non-payment of the balance of the 12 and 36 months arrears respectively of the 33 per cent pension increase to pensioners.
PTAD said, “For the record, the backlog of the 33 per cent pension arrears has been owed since 2010 as a fall out of the upward review of the minimum wage to N18, 000. Though the increment had been approved, it was not implemented immediately thus creating accumulated arrears of 42 months.
“PTAD commenced payment of the 33 per cent pension payment increase in October 2014 and ensured that all arrears for the year 2014 were paid in December 2014.
In 2016, the backlog of the 33 per cent pension arrears for the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department was fully paid. In the same year, 12 months pension arrears were paid to pensioners under Civil Service, Police, Parastatals Pension Departments.
“In November 2017, the Federal Government through PTAD, further paid 6 months arrears across board to pensioners under Civil Service, Police and Parastatals Pension Departments. Recall that in August 24, 2018, the outstanding 33 per cent pension arrears for the Police Pension Department (PPD) was cleared.”
PTAD added that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed was committed to ensuring that all pension backlogs are cleared and was working with PTAD and relevant government agencies to make sure that backlog of outstanding pension arrears are cleared.
