Ohaegbu made the call in Abuja on Tuesday when he paid a courtesy call to the Director-General, Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD), Ms. Nellie Mayshack.
“The best way to fight corruption especially in public establishments is to get the pension right. People who are still in service see what pensioners are passing through and as human beings, you don’t expect them not to plan for tomorrow,” he said.
“The only way our retirees are taken care of in Nigeria unfortunately is through the pension scheme and we must get it right. We will be deceiving ourselves if we think we are fighting corruption and it is not right,” he added.
He said it becomes imperative to collaborate with the PTAD in view of the numerous pension complaints before the commission.
He also advocated for a decentralisation of the pension system, describing as unacceptable the current method whereby pensioners have to travel down to Abuja from their respective destinations for verification exercise.
In her response, Ms. Mayshack thanked the Commissioner for the visit, expressing readiness to partner with his Commission on ways to ensure efficient and transparent pension system. She said the desire of the present administration to bring relief to pensioners necessitated the creation of her office.
She assured the Commissioner that her office is intensifying efforts to transform the pension system.
The Commissioner said he was in her office to congratulate her on her recent appointment and to seek for partnership between his Commission and PTAD on ways to ensure the numerous challenges pensioners face in the process of collecting their pensions are eliminated.
It would be recalled that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in November approved the establishment of a Pension Transition Arrangement Department (PTAD) in line with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2004 effective from November 10 to centrally manage the old pension scheme and appointed Ms. Mayshack as the Director-General.
