PTAD reiterates commitment to safeguarding pensioners’ payments

Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement of Directorate (PTAD), Dr Chioma Ejikeme, has reiterated the agency’s commitment to safeguarding pensioners and their payments.

She said this during a sensitisation and collaboration forum with anti-graft agencies and other relevant stakeholders in Abuja on Monday.

Ejikeme said that the directorate had engaged the Department of State Security (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Others, according to her, are the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Public Complaints Commission (PCC) and Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP).

She said that the stakeholders were to continually re-strategise and come to terms with the realities of pension payments and its attendant challenges.

“We will recall that the pension industry had been swarmed with complaints of extortion by fraudsters and phone calls demanding for money to quicken computation and payment of outstanding liabilities.

“The past ineffective and poor management in the industry before the pension reforms had put pension management under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) in a bad light.

“The advent of the reforms requires that the directorate have two-pronged solutions: settling the outstanding pension arrears and monthly payroll management and curbing fraud within the pension industry,” Ejikeme said.

She further stated that the directorate was providing a paradigm shift in the delivery of its mandate.

“The success has been multi-faceted, spanning verification, use of technology in computation, a technology-based seamless payment system and most importantly, continuous synergy with security agencies to reduce malpractices and fraud in the management under DBS,” she said.

The executive secretary said that the OAGF had ensured timely release, subject to the availability of funds.

“We work with them to ensure effective and conclusive payment reconciliation, and our success has been possible through collaboration with our other friendly stakeholders.

“Notwithstanding these feats, there is always room for improvement, and this forum presents an opportunity for all present to contribute,” Ejikeme said. (NAN)