Chairman, of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, (PRTFT), Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, disclosed, yesterday, that over 700 deceased pensioners have been cleared to have their benefits paid to their next of kin.
He explained that to arrive at this figure was an arduous task given the fact that aside the legal issues involved, the beneficiaries were not alive to produce documents required for easy processing of their benefits.
“This is why it took us a very long time to identify and approve their next -of -kins for payment. This is a feat that must be celebrated,” he stated.
Dr. Maina made this disclosure when he received two groups, National Association of Federal Civil Service Retirees led by its chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Omoyemi and the National Association of Retired Prisons’ Officers, led by its president, Mrs Titilayo Ibeh.
The PRTFT boss acknowledged that the 53 percent upward pension increment if paid, would boost the nation’s economy and give the retirees a new lease of life.
Although he lamented that the process was stalled due to inadequate funds, Maina assured that all necessary remedies would be provided to bring to an end, the agonies and pains to which pensioners have been subjected.
This, he said, would be done by recovering stolen monies and ultilising them for the payment of the 53 percent increment.
Maina also disclosed that his team has inaugurated a committee with members drawn from the para-military and the Head of Service, to travel across the country for the distribution of the smart card, a strategy aimed at completely halting pension fraud.
This, he said, has already been zoned to reduce unnecessary stress on the senior citizens.
“Our era marks a new dawn in the pension sector, we are adopting a permanent solution to the ugly, unacceptable, deplorable and repulsive condition and system of pension administration and payment in Nigeria which had brought untold hardship, bitterness and misery to our senior citizens.