By Chesa Chesa
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has repatriated £26.5 million from Crown Agents Investment Managers Limited of the United Kingdom.
The money is the leftover of the money that was used to pay British colonial officers who worked in Nigeria, said the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme.
She made the disclosure while appearing at the Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
Ejikeme said that the Directorate also recovered the sum of N17.85 billion from Boards of Trustees and Underwriters of Treasury Funded Federal Parastatals in form of legacy pension assets.
These recovered monies have been used to pay off inherited pension arrears accrued by sundry defunct agencies of government, she explained.
The pension agency boss said a web-based platform “I Am Alive” has also been designed to enable Pensioners with issues who already verified pensioners to easily confirm their aliveness.
According to Ejikeme pensioners with issues in their pension payments “can easily confirm their aliveness from the comfort of their homes or neighborhood using either a smartphone or a computer system without the stress of having to travel for periodic field verification.”
She further revealed that the directorate had paid over N610 billion from January 2015 to December 2021 in monthly pensions, while declaring that it had achieved 90% of its mandate.
According to her, “through the unwavering support of President Muhammadu Buhari who pensioners have adjudged as the most pensioner-friendly President in Nigeria, and administration which has made Pension an unwritten first-line charge; the able supervision of the Honorable Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning and our Regulator PenCom, PTAD’s Management Team has been able to achieve the following: Full implementation of the TSA which has ensured the sanctity of pension funds and enshrined transparency in Pension payments.
“Regular monthly payments of pension without fail since inception as and when due.
“Payments of long outstanding arrears to pensioners across all the pension departments, most significantly the huge arrears inherited from the defunct/privatized agencies.
“Regular engagements with Pensioners and other stakeholders across all six geo-
political zones, to update pensioners on activities of the directorate.”
