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From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Tuesday commenced a three-day training programme tagged “I AM ALIVE” Confirmation Solution, organized for our pension union executives and pension desk officers of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs/ of pensioners who retired under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, said the “I AM ALIVE” Confirmation Solution was launched in October 2021 as a pilot programme for 50,000 pensioners.
She said the programme is buoyed by the need for PTAD to continuously update its pensioner database as a means of ascertaining verified pensioners that are alive and should continue to receive their monthly pension. “We explained that the pilot programme was intended to test the applicability, ease of usage and user-adaptation of the solution, following which final adjustments would be made before deployment across the nation for all our pensioners,” she said.
Ejikeme noted that the initiative was a critical step towards preparing pensioners to be fully conversant with the use of the application.
“We believe that once the Union Executives and PDOs can confidently use the application, they can support our efforts to educate our pensioners and provide guidance and hand-holding where necessary for them to easily carry out their “I AM ALIVE” Confirmation solution without any difficulty; so they can assist our pensioners in understanding how to use the application, and that they can respond to basic enquiries and questions about the confirmation process.
“The training has been organized to first give an understanding of why we are deploying “I AM ALIVE”, what we expect as the impact and benefits to be derived, and what we see as likely challenges.
“Over the years, PTAD has worked assiduously to change the narrative of pension administration in Nigeria, especially under the Defined Benefits Scheme, and we are proud to see that the hard work is yielding positive results. The “I AM ALIVE” Confirmation Solution is the crucial next step that we have to make in our journey to ensuring that all our ,esteemed pensioners, senior citizens who have served this country, can enjoy their hard-earned pensions without the hardships of the past.
“The tedious, challenging and expensive field verification exercises of the past must end. Pensioners must be able to confirm their aliveness from the comfort of their homes, or at the very least, within close proximity to their residences. They should also be able to resolve their complaints without unnecessary stress. We want them to be able to contact PTAD with ease, and to be treated with respect and dignity. This project and all others we have implement in the past, have been designed towards this end goal,” she explained.
