The Federal Government has announced plans to commence increased payment of pension to retirees to reflect the new minimum wage.

This follows the presidential approval for the implementation of the consequential adjustment to the pension benefits occasioned by the new minimum wage of 2019.

The payment of the new pension to retirees will commence from May, Dr Chioma Ejikeme told reporters at a briefing on Friday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Ejikeme is the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) – the Federal Government agency established in August 2013 in compliance with the provisions of Section 30 sub-section (2) (a) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) of 2004 (amended in 2014).

She noted that with the approval, PTAD would commence the upward adjustment of all pensioners’ benefits according to the approved template.

The PTAD chief also announced that the arrears would take effect from April 2019 and the agency would commence payment also in May.

According to her, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has no reason to protest as the issue was at the conclusive stage and PTAD will continue to work hard to improve the quality of the lives of the senior citizens.

Ejikeme, however, warned that the payment of the new pension benefits would be done as a responsibility of the government and no form of gratification would be requested.

She asked the pensioners to report anyone requesting gratification before their benefits would be paid.

The PTAD chief appealed to the senior citizens to continue to cooperate with the agency to provide better services to them.

Read the full text of her briefing below:

Executive Secretary’s Speech at the Press Conference on the Consequential Adjustment to Pension Benefits Arising From the Implementation of the New Minimum Wage on 30th April 2021.

Protocols

Good morning All.

It is my immense pleasure to interact with you and brief you this morning. The Presidential approval for the implementation of the consequential adjustment to the pension benefits occasioned by the new minimum wage of 2019 has been granted and the circular released.

With this approval, PTAD is now empowered to start the upward adjustment of all pensioners’ benefits according to the approved template.

The consequential adjustment of the new pension payment will start from the May 2021 payroll. The arrears will take effect from April 2019. PTAD will also commence payment of the arrears from May 2021.

It will be recalled that on the 22nd of April, 2021, I issued a Press Release to inform the general public of the sincerity of Mr. President to implement the consequential adjustment on the pension benefits.

I made it emphatically clear that the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has no reason to go on any protest because the matter was at the conclusive stage.

As a responsible Agency of government saddled with the mandate of overseeing the payment of pension benefits to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme and taking care of their welfare, we are encouraged to do more for our pensioners. We will continue to strive to improve the quality of their lives.

Let me at this point inform and caution our senior citizens once again, that PTAD will not request any gratification from anybody before the money will be paid into their account.

They should not give their account details to anybody. They should report any scammer or anyone requesting gratification before their benefits would be paid to PTAD.

I repeat, do not give money to anybody. We have concluded arrangements to send SMS to all pensioners informing them of the payment and to caution them on the activities of pension scammers.

We continue to appeal to pension Unions to continue to partner and cooperate with the Directorate in our bid to provide better services to our Senior Citizens.

“The labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain.”

Thank you. (Channels TV)

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