From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has announced plans to commence the payment of arrears of N32,000 pension increment recently approved by the federal government.
The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Tolulope Odunaiya, made the disclosure on Monday during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Abuja.
She revealed that the arrears payment will be rolled out in phases, with the number of months paid varying across pension departments based on fund availability.
“I would like to gladly announce that PTAD has finalized its plans to begin the payments of the accrued pension arrears related to the 32,000 Naira pension increment that was recently announced by the federal government” Odunaiya stated.
She further explained that the full implementation of the N32,000 increment on the pension payroll is projected for 2025, contingent on sufficient budget allocations.
According to her, “It is our plan and hope that the full implementation of the 32,000 Naira pension increment on the pension payroll will take effect from an appropriate month within the year, subject to the appropriation of sufficient funds for sale in the federal government’s 2025 annual budget.
“Given that this approved pension adjustment will increase PTAD current pension payroll for all the 265,000 eligible pensioners by as much as 5.3 billion Naira monthly and 63.6 billion Naira annually, the need to ensure that funds are available to make these payments continuously is critical and important.”
Odunaiya further revealed that PTAD is reviewing recent circulars from the National Salaries, Income, and Wages Commission approving pension adjustments for retirees of defunct agencies such as NITEL-MTEL, People’s Bank, and Nigerian Insurance.
Speaking earlier, the NUP National President, Comrade Godwin Abumisi, disclosed that the union is making preparations for its National Delegates Conference (NDC) slated for April 2025 in Kano.
Abumisi urged members to focus on constitution review and other critical issues during the NEC meeting to ensure a successful conference.
He further congratulated the new PTAD ES on her appointment, describing her as a “compassionate and result-driven leader”, while expressing optimism that her tenure would improve the welfare of pensioners.
“Executive Secretary Ma, my one million naira advice to you is that you should please beware of “agent provocateur”; people who will deliberately spread fake news about you or the NUP in order to seek attention. They may even want to tarnish your image, please just develop a thick skin so that they will not distract you or make you lose focus. The Nigeria Union of Pensioners sincerely Wish you a very successful tenure of office,” he added.