FG owes over N90bn pensions of closed agencies

The federal government owes N90 billion in pension arrears of staff in wound up agencies.

This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr Chioma Ejikeme at a training workshop for pension correspondents in Abuja yesterday.

She was represented by the Director of Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department, Abdallah Abubakar.

A breakdown of some of the outstanding arrears reveals that the defunct Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL/MTEL) with an outstanding 78 months’ arrears has the largest with N73bn unfunded liability which translates to 81 percent.

Others are: Delta Steel Company with 72 months’ arrears is owed N7.9bn, NICON Insurance has N4.9bn, New Nigerian Newspaper with 190 days’ arrears of N2.9bn while the Nigeria Re-Insurance Corporation with 103 months’ arrears is owed N1.1bn.

The director said the amount remains a concern for the directorate, adding that several engagements are ongoing to source the funds to offset the liability

Abubakar said: “Good progress has been made by the government and the directorate but it is still far from the destination.

He further disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) validation report which led to the suspension of 5,834 pensioners from the payroll in November 2019 and the review of complaints thereon has resulted in the subsequent restoration of 2,700 pensioners to the payroll in 14 batches.

Another batch (16) of 66 Pensioners (bringing the total restored to 2,766) was reviewed and restored to payroll and paid their accrued arrears.