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The newly appointed Chairman of the Military Pensions Board(MPB), Major General Julius Osifo, has assumed office with a promise to ensure prompt payment of pensions, gratuities, death benefits and other entitlements to retired military personnel and families of deceased personnel.
Gen. Osifo, has also assured that the board under his leadership would prioritise the welfare of military veterans and families of personnel who died in the line of duty by making benefit payments faster, easier to access and less bureaucratic.
The chairman made this known while taking over from his predecessor, Air Vice Marshal Mikhail Abdulraheem, at the handing-over ceremony held at the board’s headquarters in Abuja.
Osifo, while noting that delays in the payment of death benefits to families of soldiers killed in action could undermine the sacrifices of fallen personnel and affect the morale of troops still engaged in military operations, said the board would also strengthen collaboration with the military services and other relevant institutions to identify beneficiaries proactively and ensure faster processing of their entitlements.
The chairman who said his ultimate goal was to reposition the board to ensure prompt and seamless payments to veterans and families of fallen soldiers, promised to improve the capacity and motivation of the board’s personnel, saying a well-trained and motivated workforce was essential to achieving its objectives.
He said “My mission statement will be anchored on leading a Board that will prioritise all ways and means to ensure payments are prompt, accessed with seamless ease, less cumbersome, less bureaucratic, but with an overriding commitment to ensuring only the rightful recipients get their due entitlements,”.
“From my personal experience in OPHK, I can tell you outright that inefficient administration leading to default in payments of benefits to NOK of KIA not only diminishes the sacrifices of our gallant soldiers, but also dishonours the memory of those killed in action and demoralises the fighting spirit of those in combat,” .
“The implementation strategies for the attainment of this mission statement include leveraging smart systems of contemporary technology, effective liaison with the Services for proactive identification of beneficiaries, prompt processing of benefits and enhanced capacity building of MPB personnel,”.
Gen. Osifo, who promised to build on the achievements of his predecessors and deploy technology to improve pension administration. said “My desired end state is to reposition the MPB to be technically proficient towards the optimisation of my vision of prompt and seamless payments to veterans and families of fallen heroes,”.
Earlier in his In his valedictory remarks, the outgoing chairman while commending officers, soldiers and civilian staff of the board for their cooperation and support during his tenure, urged them to extend the same commitment to his successor, stressing that the board’s mandate depended on teamwork and a shared commitment to the welfare of military pensioners and their next of kin.
Abdulraheem, who expressed confidence in his successor and wished him a successful tenure
said “The mandate of this Board is bigger than any individual and its success depends on our ability to remain united and focused on the welfare of our military pensioners and their Next-of-Kin,”.
