Panel probes PTAD over nonpayment of benefits to retirees

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has commenced a probe of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) over nonpayment and delay in payment of retirees’ benefits despite trillions of naira appropriated annually to the agency.

A technical ad-hoc committee headed by the vice chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has been mandated to forensically audit the various sums appropriated annually to the agency.

Chairman of the Public Account Committee, Busayo Oluwole Oke announced the decision of the committee yesterday during a hearing on the multiple queries issued against PTAD by the Auditor General of the Federation.

 The committee is to take into account the utilisation of the agency’s capital and recurrent releases and ensure they were in conformity with financial regulations.

The committee lamented that despite trillions of naira released to the agency as yearly appropriation, pensioners were still crying about the nonpayment of their entitlements across the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The committee also demanded for a comprehensive list of beneficiaries under the agency’s pension scheme as well as evidence of direct remittance to them on a monthly basis to enable it to verify the complaints of nonpayment by the pensioners.

The leader of the PTAD team, who is the Director, Civil Service Pension in the agency, Mr. Sulayman Shellong, while testifying under oath denied any infraction on the part of the agency in the area of pension payments to beneficiaries under its scheme.