From Uche Usim, Abuja
Federal pensioners of the power and transport sectors of the Parastatals Pension Department (PaPD) can now heave a sigh of relief as the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has finalized the payment of ₦1,023,756,227.45, which represents 39% of the accrued pension arrears owed them from August 2015 to September 2023.
PTAD in a statement said the payment was structured via the computation of the monthly pension of the retirees of PaPD based on their career details, salary structure and applicable pension increments.
The Directorate added that the arrears were ascertained during the back-end computation exercise conducted by PTAD, where it was discovered that 7,091 pensioners in the Power and Transport Sector were being underpaid based on the Payroll inherited by PTAD.
“The back-end computation exercise was necessitated by the need to ensure that each pensioner earns their rightful pension for fairness, equity and justice, in line with the Directorate’s mandate,” the statement noted.
The agency also assured federal pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme that the Federal Government was committed to their welfare, assuring that all arrears will continue to be paid until they are totally offset. The payment, PTAD stated, is subject to availability of funds.
At the weekend, the Federal Civil Service Pensioners’ (FCSP) appealed to the federal government to immediately release funds to the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to clear existing arrears owed them.
The retirees have also applauded President Bola Tinubu for the reappointment of Dr. Chioma Ejikeme as the Executive Secretary of PTAD, describing it as a right step in the right direction.
The federal pensioners urged PTAD to prioritize the payment of pension arrears to their members so their labour does not go in vain.
Speaking through their president, Sunday Omezi, the retirees said: “We call on the Federal government to release funds to PTAD for pension arrears as there are files of members both dead and alive lying down in PTAD which have not been cleared due to unavailability of funds.