By Moses Onwuka :
The Federal Government has reiterated that it will release cash to settle unpaid pension arrears.
The promise was made by Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), at a Tuesday meeting with executives from the Federal Parastatals and Private Sector Pensioners Association of Nigeria (FEPPAN) in Abuja.
Ejikeme further promised the association that the federal government will keep up its monthly financial commitment to retirees after that.
“President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope program would keep enhancing the wellbeing of retirees.
“PTAD is working in conjunction with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation concerning the conditional cash transfer and palliative care. A statement will be released as soon as additional details are obtained. “You may be confident that PTAD and other pertinent agencies are advocating for the incoming government on the harmonization and pension review issues, and I am hopeful that a positive resolution will result.
“Moreover, the directorate will look into other options to send letters to pensioners who were returned undelivered while the investigation and resolution of the Parastatals Pension Department (PaPD) back-end computation complaints will take place in due course,” she stated.
In order to best serve the interests of pensioners as a whole, the executive secretary applauded the FEPPAN representatives but urged them to collaborate with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP).
President Bola Tinubu was complimented for the executive secretary’s reappointment by Alhaji Babaji Magaji, the acting president general of FEPPAN, who described the appointment as well-deserved.
Saying they hadn’t received the letter to that effect, he asked for an extensive analysis of the PaPD back-end computation.
According to Magaji, the purpose of the visit was to find out how things stood with regard to pensioner palliative care, pension harmonization, and FEPPAN’s standing as a recognized pension union.
“We applaud the executive secretary and her team for successfully completing the verification process and for paying the pension on a regular and timely basis.
He said, “We also applaud the ‘Am alive confirmation exercise,’ which has made it simple for all verified pensioners to confirm their status as alive from the convenience of their homes.”
