Federal Retirees Protest Unpaid Pensions Months After Verification

• Federal Retirees Protest Unpaid Pensions Months After Verification

Some federal retirees have staged a protest on non-payment of their pensions and other entitlements eight months after their verification by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate.

During the protest which took place in Lagos, the Defined Benefits Scheme retirees tagged the protest ‘From retirement to grave’ and called on the Federal Government to alleviate their sufferings caused by non-payment of their entitlements.

The Chairman, Federal Concerned Pensioners, Mr. David Adodo, said the retirees decided to protest because eight months after verification, there had been no corresponding response or detailed information on why their money was not paid.

He said, “A lot of pensioners are not on payroll for the past seven years and more and yet the agency is not sensitive to their plight. They are not even telling us what is happening; they are just keeping quiet.

“We are talking about hunger here; the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate does not understand the meaning of hunger. Our 33 pension per cent increase is still outstanding; pay us our pensions in full. People are indebted and suffering.”

According to him, the monthly stipends for those pensioners on the payroll are sometimes not paid in time.

Last year, the Executive Secretary, PTAD, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, had said that federal retirees who had not been earning pensions would be placed on payroll few months after verification.

During the verification of federal civil service pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme, in Lagos on Monday, she said that the Federal Government was working out modalities to settle the arrears of its retirees’ pensions.

Ikeazor said, “Between four and five months after verification, those not on payroll will be returned and start earning pensions. All those on payroll are being verified and if they have any other complaint, it will be rectified in this verification.”

According to her, the Federal Government pays a monthly pension of N7.5bn to retirees in the old pension scheme, and these funds are always released regularly.