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Tag: Pension

  • Saraki has returned pensions collected as ex-gov – Kwara Govt

    The Kwara State Government has said the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has returned all the pensions he collected so far as a former two-term governor of the state.

    The Secretary to the Kwara State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, in a statement on Wednesday said the attention of the state government had been drawn to issues surrounding the payment of pensions to former governors of the state, especially Saraki.

    The SSG said Saraki, as a two-term governor of the state, was entitled to pensions as stipulated by the third schedule, Paragraph D (i) of the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law, No. 12 of 2010 of Kwara State.

    He added that the said pensions had been duly remitted to his (Saraki’s) account, like other former governors, since he left office.

    He, however, said that when, via a letter dated August 20, 2015 addressed to the state government, Saraki requested that the payment of pensions to his account be stopped and the amount already credited to the account be refunded to the (Kwara State) Government, the state government promptly complied.

    Gold said, “The (Kwara State) Government not only stopped the payment of the said pension, the amount already paid into Saraki’s account since he left office was deducted from the money owed to him as well as his other outstanding lawful entitlements.

    “In view of the foregoing, it should be noted that neither the Kwara State Government, nor Saraki, violated the state pension law or any other law for that matter.

    “The State Pension Law empowers the state government to pay pension to former governors of the state.

    “The Kwara State Government will want to reiterate the fact that it was Dr. Saraki who, of his own volition, considered the morality of the situation in which the pension would put him since he is still a serving Senator and chose to abandon his legal rights.

    “We believe he should be commended for the decision.”

    Gold added, “It is the hope of the Kwara State Government that this clarification will end all the controversy about this issue.”

  • Alleged double pay: Return pension, Abuja house, received since 2007, Falana tells Saraki

    Sequel to a statement credited to the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki that he no longer receive pension as former governor of Kwara State, human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana (SAN) on Sunday urged Saraki to refund pensions and other valuables he received since 2007 that he left office.

    Falana said it will still be immoral for the formal Kwara governor to admit collecting double salaries without returning what he had illegally earned after leaving office.

    In a statement, the activist lawyer, however, lauded the senator for admitting the error, urging other ex-governors, now serving as lawmakers and members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to take a cue from Saraki.

    He also said it was wrong of the former governor to hold on to the house built for him in the Federal Capital City (FCT), Abuja, at a time he was allegedly collecting housing allowance as the Senate President.

    Falana said: “Since Dr. Saraki has come to the conclusion that the collection of the pension is immoral he is advised to refund the pension he had collected from the Kwara State government since he became a Senator in June 2007.

    “He should also relinquish the house bought for him in Abuja by the Kwara State government since he is said to receive housing allowance as President of the Senate.”

    Falana’s statement entitled: “All ex-governors should emulate Dr. Bukola Saraki”, reads: “The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki announced last week that he had stopped collecting pension as a former governor of Kwara State following the protest by the Socio-Economic and Accountability Project (SERAP).

    “According to the Senate leader, the moment his attention was drawn to the allegation of the payment of double salaries he wrote to the Kwara State government to stop the payment of his pension. In like manner, three serving ministers in the Buhari administration who are former governors have disclosed that they are not being paid pension from any the state government.

    “Other ministers and legislators who are former governors and deputy governors should speak out so that Nigerians can know the public officers who are involved in the illegal collection of pension from stste governments and salaries from the Federal Government pat the same time.

    “Apart from writing to the Kwara State government to stop further payment of the pension due to him under the former governors’ pension law of Kwara State, Dr. Saraki decided to contribute to the debate on double payment of salaries by some ex-governors.

    “In condemning such payment, Dr. Saraki stated that ‘morally, if you have got another job, you should give it up until when you are truly a pensioner. Some of these oversights are not addressing the issues. What the states should do is to go and amend their laws to say that if you have another appointment then you are not entitled to that benefit. With this, we will just simplify the matter’.

    “With respect, the proposed amendment of the obnoxious laws will not ‘simplify the matter’.

    “However, while Dr. Saraki is commended for demonstrating leadership by example with respect to the illegal collection of the ex-governors’ pension he should proceed to use his position as the President of the Senate to prevail on the 20 other senators who are former governors and deputy-governors to stop further collecting pension from their state governments since they are currently receiving jumbo salaries and allowances from t National Assembly.

    However, Dr. Saraki’s call on the houses of assembly of the states to amend the laws to stop the payment of pension to ex-governors who are receiving salaries from the federal government either as senators or ministers has not addressed the immorality and illegality of the payment.

    “In fact, the popular demand of the Nigerian people is that the scandalous pension laws be repealed in toto as there is no legal or moral basis for paying the salaries of a sitting governor to former governors and then provide them with vehicles and two houses, one in the state capital and another one in the FCT, more so, that majority of the states are owing workers arrears of salaries.

    Finally, the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly are alleged to have concluded plans to amend the ex-Governors’ Pension Law with a view to extending the largesse to the principal officers of the legislative body.

    “The legislators should jettison the dangerous plan. Since majority of the legislators claim to be Awoists it is pertinent to remind them that while he was the Premier of the Western region the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo lived in his personal house at Okebola Ibadan.

    “The tradition of personal sacrifice by political leaders in Nigeria continued up to the second republic. Hence, Alhaji Lateef Jakande lived in his Ilupeju residence and rode his private car while he was governor of Lagos State for four years. What then is the justification for buying two houses for former governors in the same state?”

     

  • N40bn double pay: SERAP welcomes Saraki’s move to stop receiving pensions

    N40bn double pay: SERAP welcomes Saraki’s move to stop receiving pensions

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has welcomed Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki’s move to “stop receiving pensions from Kwara state, where he was the governor between 2003 and 2011, and urges him to join us in the campaign to end the unjust, unfair and discriminatory practice of providing life pensions to former governors and to abolish laws that make this possible.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Saraki told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Tuesday, that he wrote a letter to the state government to stop the payment of the pension “the moment I saw that SERAP allegation.” He said, “No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.”

    In a statement today by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni the organization said, “It’s good news that Dr Saraki has publicly made known that he has stopped drawing pensions from Kwara state. We hope that other public officials still receiving double emoluments will follow Dr Saraki’s example and renounce such practice. We also urge the Senate President to publicly commit to donating to charities of his choice all pensions and allowances he has so far collected or to such emoluments to the public treasury.”

    SERAP also asked “the Senate President to use his leadership position to urgently facilitate a resolution by the National Assembly condemning the practice and laws on double pay and life pensions for former governors now serving public officials; urging state assemblies to abolish such laws; and calling on those that have received such emoluments to return them to the public treasury.”

    SERAP urged “Dr Saraki to work with us to put meaningful pressure on other states to abolish their unfair and discriminatory life pensions laws as well as on serving senators and ministers who continue to receive double emoluments to end the practice and return all the emoluments they have so far received to the public treasury. Dr Saraki can start by putting pressure on the governor of Kwara state Mr Abdulfatah Ahmed and the state house of assembly to move swiftly to abolish the law that has facilitated the payment of the unjust pensions in the first place.”

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that SERAP had last week in an open letter called on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to within seven days challenge the legality of states’ laws allowing former governors to draw life pensions from their states.

    The letter dated 14 July 2017 read in part: “Public interest is not well served when government officials such as former governors, deputies supplement their emoluments in their current positions with life pensions and emoluments drawn from their states’ meagre resources, and thereby prioritising their private or personal interests over and above the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

    “By signing such double emoluments and large benefits laws which they knew or ought to know that they would be beneficiaries, these former governors have abused their entrusted public functions and positions, and thereby obtained an undue advantage, contrary to article 19 of the UN Convention against Corruption.”

    “These states’ laws allowing former governors to receive life pensions either now or in the future have a discriminatory purpose that involves an intent to discriminate against ordinary workers and pensioners. Such laws enhance the economic status of public officials and their families at the expense of the citizens that they are elected to serve, have no legitimacy at all, and cannot be justified either on legal or moral grounds.”

    “SERAP is concerned that such laws have either the purpose or the effect of denying the citizens their right to the enjoyment of their commonwealth, and as such, prolonging the existing and entrenched poverty-gaps across the country. The implementation of these laws will continue to lock the citizens, especially the most marginalized and vulnerable groups, into lives of deprivation and hopelessness.”

    “SERAP holds the firm view that there are clear causal and consequential links between implementation of unfair life pensions’ laws for former governors and violation of human dignity of citizens. Such laws deprive citizens of resources, capabilities, freedoms and choices necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and sustainable livelihood.”

    “The abolition of such laws, therefore, is a necessary first step towards delivering on the constitutional promise of equal protection and equal benefit of the law for a distressingly large number of Nigerians. Otherwise, public officials will remain seriously out of touch with a major source of poverty and discrimination in the country.”

  • Double pay: Saraki replies SERAP, says ‘I have stopped receiving pension as ex-Kwara Governor’

    …urges other former governors in the Senate to follow suit

    The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he had stopped collecting pension in Kwara as a former governor of the state.

    The Senate President revealed this at a forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He insisted that he had written a letter to the state government to stop the payment of the pension.

    According to Saraki, the move was sequel to complaints from some quarters that former governors who are currently senators or ministers were receiving pension and salary in their new jobs, all from the government.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that a civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), last month accused former governors who are now in the Senate or took up new appointments as Ministers or directors of agencies of receiving double pay from the government, and said it was illegal.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the group in an open letter sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN urged him to use his “good offices as a defender of public interest, and exercise your powers under Section 174(1) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors, who are now senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices.”

    The organization also asked Mr Malami to “seek full recovery of over N40bn of public funds that have so far been received from those involved; and to begin to take these steps within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter, failing which SERAP will institute legal proceedings to compel the discharge of constitutional duty and full compliance with Nigeria’s international anti-corruption obligations and commitments.”

    However, Saraki in a response said: “No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.

    “So, I speak for myself on that part; I’m not doing that, I am not receiving pension from my state,’’ he said.

    On other senators involved on the issue, Saraki said “I think I will leave everybody to their individual decision.

    “Morally, if you have got another job, you should give it up until when you are truly a pensioner.

    “Some of these oversights are not addressing the issues. What the states should do is to go and amend their laws to say that if you have another appointment then you are not entitled to that benefit.

    “With this, we will just simplify the matter.”

    On the role of Bank of Infrastructure in the country, Saraki said that the Senate had not had any serious interface with the bank, but that it was involved in some projects.

    “We are not engaging with them particularly. I think that they were part of those involved in the Lagos-Ibadan road. But, I don’t think government should really put funds into that.

    “I have this strong view and I feel very strongly about it, that nowhere in the world has government funded infrastructure.

    “Government cannot, and even if government can fund infrastructure projects, the social sector will suffer – health will suffer and education will suffer.’’

    He said there were a lot of complaints that budgetary allocation to health and education was too low, attributing it to the fact that much money was being invested in infrastructure development.

    Saraki explained that due to the challenges, the National Assembly had passed Bills that would encourage private sector participation in infrastructure development.

    “What should happen is that we should try and get private sector to take over some of these infrastructure so that the money can go into education and health.

    “By doing that, banks like Bank of infrastructure will come in.

    “We are really pushing the idea of, particularly, the Lagos-Ibadan road, that appropriating that project from the budget does not show seriousness.

    “This is a road that is very viable; that is centre of the commercial activity and we should see how private sector can participate.

    “For example, even if you go by the budgetary allocation on that road, last year was N30 billion, this year, after back and forth, we took it back to N20 billion.

    “This was done so that if they don’t find private funding, we will take it up,’’ he said.

    According to him, even if the N30 billion was provided, it will not be enough because that road needs about N100 billion to be completed.

    “So, the point I’m making which I want to emphasise is that it is the kind of laws and policies that we pass that will encourage private sector that will make the infrastructure deficit to reduce.

    “Government alone cannot reduce infrastructure deficit,” Saraki said.

    He confirmed that the senators had fulfilled their October, 2016 pledge to contribute N300, 000 each to support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East.

    He said that the senate would continue to tackle humanitarian crisis in the North-East through budgetary appropriations.

    “I think that to the best of my knowledge, that is happening but it goes beyond just that. I think that we have shown that we will continue to support in form of appropriation of adequate money.

    “As you saw just last week, we also approved some foreign loan that will go toward supporting activities in the North-East as palliative means to fight humanitarian crisis.

    “We are close to about 800 million dollars we approved for the executive from that point of view.

    “We are always ready to support our men and women in uniform to ensure that whatever they required was provided,” Saraki said.

    He added that the lawmakers had being meeting with a lot of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to provide support to the North-East.

    “We are looking at the possibility of what we can do to create more incentives for Nigerians.

    “We are approaching individuals and companies to make more donations and see what kind of concessions they can get for the kind of donations they are making in the North-East,” he said.

  • Retrieve N40bn received by ex-governors as pension, SERAP tells FG

    Retrieve N40bn received by ex-governors as pension, SERAP tells FG

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Federal Government to recover the more than N40 billion so far received by ex-governors currently serving as senators and ministers.

    A statement by Executive Director, SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, on Sunday said the politicians were already enjoying pensions and other privileges and ought not to receive further emoluments from the Federal Government.

    It said that it had dispatched a letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, to initiate steps toward the recovery of the funds.

    “We urged Malami to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors currently serving as senators and ministers to enjoy serving governors’ emoluments as pensions.”

    The organization expressed concern that many serving senators and ministers were receiving salaries and life pensions running into billions of naira from states that were currently unwilling or unable to pay workers’ salaries.

    It said that double emolument and large severance benefits for former governors now serving public officials constituted a blatant betrayal of public trust.

    It listed the beneficiaries as Dr Bukola Saraki (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Theodore Orji (Abia),Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi).

    Also on the list are Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Ahmed Yerima (Zamfara), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Bukar Ibrahim (Yobe), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) and George Akume (Benue).

    Others are Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti), Enyinaya Abaribe (Abia), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra) and Babatunde Fashola (Lagos).

    “We are urging you to use your good offices as a defender of public interest, and exercise your powers under Section 174(1) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    “This is for you to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors, who are now senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices.

    “SERAP is also asking you to seek full recovery of over N40bn of public funds that have so far been received from those involved.

    “We want you to begin to take these steps within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.’’

    The group said failure to do this would make SERAP to institute legal proceedings to compel the discharge of constitutional duty and full compliance with Nigeria’s international anticorruption obligations and commitments.

    SERAP noted that under the Lagos Pension Law a former governor would enjoy the following benefits for life: Two houses, one in Lagos and another in Abuja estimated to cost between N500m and N700m.

    It said they also enjoy six brand new cars, furniture allowance of 300 per cent of annual salary to be paid every two years, and a close to N2.5m monthly as pension (about N30m pension annually).

    It said he was also entitled free medicals with his immediate families as well as house maintenance, car maintenance, entertainment and utility allowances inadditon to several domestic staff.
    It said in Rivers, the law provided 100 per cent of annual basic salaries for ex-governor and deputy, one residential house for former governor anywhere of his choice and one residential house for the deputy.

    It said three cars were given to the ex-governor every four years; two cars for the deputy, 300 per cent of annual basic salary for furniture; and 10 per cent of annual basic salary for house maintenance.

    It said Akwa Ibom law provided N200m annual pay to ex governors, deputies; pension for life at a rate equivalent to the salary of the incumbent governor/deputy governor respectively.

    It said a new official car and utility-vehicle , one personal aide and provision of adequate security; a cook, chauffeurs and security guards were provided for the governor.

    Others benefits include free medical services for governor and spouse at an amount not exceeding N100m for the governor per annum and N50m for the deputy governor.

    It said the law also gave a five-bedroom mansion and allowance of 300 percent of annual basic salary for the deputy governor; 300 percent of annual basic salary and severance gratuity.

    It said the Kano State Pension Rights of Governor and Deputy Governor provided for 100 percent of annual basic salaries for former governor and deputy as well as furnished and equipped office.

    It said it also provided for a 6-bedroom house; well-furnished 4-bedroom for deputy, plus an office; free medical treatment for self and immediate families, two drivers; and a provision for a 30- day vacation within and outside Nigeria.

    It said Gombe law gave N300 million executive pension benefits for the ex-governors while Kwara law gave a former governor two cars and a security car replaceable every three years.

    The act also provided for a well-furnished 5-bedroom duplex, 300 per cent of his salary as furniture allowance and five personal staff.

    The ex-governor and his deputy are also entitled to free medical care, 30 per cent of salary for car maintenance, 20 per cent for utility, 10 per cent for entertainment; 10 per cent for house maintenance.

    SERAP said in Zamfara , former governors received pension for life, two personal staff, two vehicles replaceable, two drivers and free medical treatment for them and their immediate families in Nigeria or abroad.

    Ex-governors in the state are also entitled to a 4-bedroom house in Zamfara, an office, free telephone and 30 days paid vacation outside Nigeria.

    It said the Sokoto State law gave former governors and deputy governors N200 million and N180million respectively being monetisation for other entitlements which included domestic aides, residence and vehicles that could be renewed after every four years.

  • Buhari’s govt committed to prompt payment of salaries, pension – Presidency

    The President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government has assured Nigerians that it remains uncompromisingly committed to the prompt payment of salaries and pensions of its workforce and pensioners across the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the assurance is coming amid pressure to improve spending on capital projects to bridge the infrastructure deficit in the country. t

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the public presentation of the 2017 Appropriation Act.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the 2017 budget has a total spending estimation of N7.44 trillion, with N2.99 trillion allocated to recurrent expenditure, N2.36 trillion on capital expenditure and N1.66 trillion on debt servicing.

    Statistics given by the minister showed that N1.88 trillion, which was 63 per cent of the recurrent expenditure component of the budget, would be spent on personnel cost and N281.1 billion, representing 9.4 per cent, would be spent on pension.

    This shows that a total of N2.16 trillion would be spent on salaries and pension alone.

    Other aspect of the recurrent expenditure framework includes Overheads, N219.84 billion and N138.7 billion, for Service-wide Votes.

    Also, the government plans to spend N76.7 billion on Presidential Amnesty Programme, while the running cost of the special intervention programme is expected to gulp N350 billion.

    Udoma also said that the Federal Government plans to spend N40 billion as refund to special accounts.

    However, he failed to mention names of the accounts and the purpose intended.

    “We have to manage our recurrent expenditure and at the same time, we cannot afford to have any retrenchment.

    “Consequently, we must meet our personnel expenses. We have to make sure we provide adequately for salaries and pensions.

    “For other items of expenditure such as Overheads, we will only meet those components that are vital and others will be managed down because it is very important that we find the resources to meet our capital expenditure,’’ he said.

    According to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, N210 billion was needed monthly to finance Federal Government Personnel Cost.

    She said at the moment, government barely made enough to meet its monthly obligation such as Personnel Cost, Service Debt and finance necessary capital projects.

    Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for May, shared N418.9 billion between the federal, states and local government areas from the federation account.

    The Federal Government’s share from that amount was N163.9 billion.

  • Obaseki assures Edo local government pensioners of arrears

    Obaseki assures Edo local government pensioners of arrears

    Edo local government pensioners yesterday protested non-payment of their entitlements as they visited the State Government House where Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu addressed their grievances.

    The protest later became a congenial meeting as both parties reached a truce on the modalities of the government’s ongoing efforts to offset their outstanding arrears and set the tone for sustainable payment process.

    They also asked for settlement of their outstanding pension arrears, enrolment of newly retired pensioners, harmonisation of their pensions, and regular payments of their monthly pensions.

    They also alleged that the bailout funds from the federal government had been used to pay the state pensioners but the local government pensioners were still being owed arrears.

    Addressing the pensioners on behalf of Governor Godwin Obaseki, Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu noted that the government felt it was lawful for them to express their grievances, as the Pensioners Association was to serve as a mediator between the state government and the pensioners.

    He said: “This is not the first time we are talking. The last time, both State and Local Government pensioners came. We discussed the issue of bailout, how it would be used and we had another meeting with the governor on it. Today, the issue of state has already been resolved. For state pensioners that have been captured, before the Governor or Deputy Governor receives their salary, they are the first to be paid. They are paid before even workers in the civil service get their salaries”.

    He, however, rued the fact that the Edo State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners was not present at the protest because the state did not owe any money to the pensioners.

    Explaining, he revealed that since 2008, Local Governments had been in charge of their internally generated revenue, so they had also been in charge of their workers’ pensions.

    Nevertheless, the state had been responsible for paying the pensions of its workers and had already done so with the bailout funds from the federal government, while also putting modalities in place for a sustainable method of paying the pensioners their entitlements and gratuities.

    “We relied heavily on oil boon before, and so corruption spoiled the payment process. Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) will be resurrected so that pensioners can be paid directly. We are trying to boost your IGR so that you can pay yourselves. We will be in a meeting with your leaders today as it is not in our interest to see our elderly ones suffer,” he said.

    Continuing, he noted that Governor Obaseki had already set about duplicating the same system at the state level into the local government level because the government would not tolerate fraud and the state government could not remain aloof while the local government pensioners suffered.

    “So we need to help Local Governments to establish what we did at the state level so that you can pay your salary arrears and pensioners before even those that are working. The governor is determined to eradicate owing of pension and he is concerned,” he said.

     

    *PRESS RELEASE

  • Buhari approves release of N54bn to clear pension backlog

    Buhari approves release of N54bn to clear pension backlog

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved the release of the sum of N54 billion to clear part of the backlog of accrued pension rights for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

    The Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Mr Salisu Danbatta said that the N41.5 billion has already been released to the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

    The amount released was for onward payment to those who retired under the Contributory Pension Scheme and who were yet to be paid.

    Danbatta quoted the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun as saying that N12.5 billion, being outstanding for January, February and March 2017, was also released, bringing the total to about N54 billion.

    “Despite conflicting demands for available cash, President Muhammadu Buhari has always expressed concern over the plight of workers and pensioners.

    “Consistent with this, we have released N41.5 billion which clears the arrears inherited from the previous administration relating to the period 2013-15 and underpayments in 2016.

    “This will bring relief to thousands of our elders who have served and deserve to be paid their entitlements promptly and fully,” she said.

    The minister said that the amount paid also included arrears of those who retired as far back as 2013 and had been unable to access their pension under the contributory scheme due to non-payment.

    To avoid future accumulation of pension arrears, Adeosun said that henceforth “the monthly allocation to the PENCOM based on the appropriation of 2017 will regularly be paid along with monthly salaries of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).”

    All Federal Government workers began the monthly Contributory Pension Scheme in 2004, in line with the Pension Reform Act.

    The money the Federal Government now owes its workers before the commencement of the act, is recognised in form of the issuance of Federal Government Retirement Benefits Bonds.

    Upon retirement of an employee, the bonds are to be liquidated and added to the balance of the retirement savings account of an employee to get the amount he or she is entitled.

    To ensure that government settles backlog of accrued rights, Pension Fund Administrators are not allowed to grant retirees access to their retirement savings until the federal government releases the accrued rights component.

    This means that a retiree cannot access his or her Retirement Savings Account (RSA) through the Pension Funds Administrators without the accrued pension rights component.

    So for Public Service workers who migrate to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004, shortly before they retired, they are entitled to two components of retirement benefit.

    That is the contributions accumulated in their RSA and their accrued right from the time they joined the service to the time they migrated to CPS.

    The federal public servants who retired since January 2016, had staged a protest at the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja over their unpaid pension to the tune of N200 billion.

    The retirees under the auspices of the League of Federal Service Contributory Pension Retirees led by the Coordinator, Mr Chike Ogbechie said that workers who have retired in the last 15 months were yet to receive their pension.

    In reaction to the recent release, Mr Ogbechie when contacted by the News Agency of Nigeria said that the “N54 billion will clear much of the backlog of our pension, but not all. So the struggle still continues”.

    (NAN)

     

  • Tambuwal approves N2.93 bn for payment of pension arrears, gratuities – HOS

    Governor Aminu Tambuwal has approved over N 2.93 billion for the payment of backlog of pensions, death and contract gratuities to no fewer than 1,292 retirees and others.

    The Head of the Civil Service (HOS), Dr Buhari Kware told newsmen on Thursday in Sokoto that the payment would be done in phases.

    “The first category will involve the payment of N 1.23 billion to 567 living retirees and the next of kin of deceased ones.’’

    Kware explained that the first category comprised beneficiaries, who retired between Sept. 2015 and April 2016.

    “The figure was initially 588, but only 567 were physically verified by the State Auditor-General as directed by the governor.

    “The remaining twenty one retirees who were not physically verified under the first phase would be paid after being duly verified.

    “A committee had been set up to commence the payment of the entitlements to all the 567 already verified beneficiaries.’’

    Kware stated that the second category comprised 725 beneficiaries and their money stood at N 1.7 billion.

    According to the HOS, the second category comprised beneficiaries who retired between May 2016 and Dec.2016.

    “The Auditor-General would also physically verify them after which they will be paid their entitlements.

    “The benefits of all the deceased retirees would be computed and sent to the State Ministry of Justice for onward payment to their next of kins through the courts.

    “The processes being followed are not to make the payment cumbersome, but to ensure probity, diligence, honesty, and accountability.

    “This is also to ensure that only those who are supposed to genuinely be paid are paid, hence to avoid any possible pitfalls.”

    Kware commended Tambuwal for according priority to the payment of benefits to all retirees.

    He also appealed to the beneficiaries to continue to be patient, while cautioning them to be wary of fraudsters.

     

    NAN

  • Pensioners in Kebbi agree to receive 60% entitlements – Chairman

    Pensioners in Kebbi State have agreed to accept the payment of 60 per cent of their entitlements in line with the proposals by the state government.

    Alhaji Usman Dan-Gwari, the state chairman, Association of Pensioners, spoke with newsmen in Birnin Kebbi on Sunday.

    Dan-Gwari said that his members had just concluded a special prayers for divine intervention over delay in the payment of their pension.

    He said that pensioners who had been screened would benefit from the payment, while the subsequent payment would be made for the remaining members after verification.

    The association chairman said that the decision to reject the payment of the pension in phases initially was sequel to the non-conclusion of the verification.

    He urged the state government and its agents to ensure prompt conclusion of the exercise.

    Dan-Gwari said that the Ministry of Finance had commenced payment to those that had been verified, appealing to those that were yet to be paid to remain calm.