Concerned about the plight of pensioners who retired under the
Contributory Pension Scheme without being paid, the Federal Government has
cleared the inherited arrears of accrued pension benefit for the year 2014,
2015 and 2016 by releasing N41.5 billion to the National Pension Commission
(PENCOM) for onward payment to the retirees.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun also announced that the sum of N12.5 billion
being outstanding for January, February and March 2017 has been settled based
on 2016 appropriation, bringing the tally to over N54 billion.
According to the finance minister, “despite conflicting demands for
available cash, President Muhammadu Buhari has always expressed concern about
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.”
The N41,
566, 565, 184 released to PENCOM was the outstanding appropriated for the year
2014 and 2016 by the National Assembly for the settlement of the retirement
benefits of Federal Government employees.
She
explained further that “the amount we paid includes arrears and the impact is
that those who retired as far back as 2013, who had been unable to access pension
under the contributory scheme due to non payment, will now be paid.”
To avoid future accumulation of pension arrears, Mrs. Adeosun assured
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).”
Nduka Chiejina
