FG eliminates ghost pensioners, builds secure data

THE Federal Government has said that the ongoing verification exercise of the civil service pensioners across the country will eliminate ghost pensioners and save the nation billions of Naira.

Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, who said this on Tuesday in Lagos, added that the government is also building a secured database for pensioners in order to stop incessant verification exercises.

She said ongoing verification of eligible civil service pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme, which involved biometric capture of pensioners would enable the agency to completely take off the payroll fake pensioners.

Speaking through a Deputy Director, Mr Phillips Oki, the Executive Secretary said the ongoing verification exercise would be the last that pensioners would be subjected to, after this PTAD would have a secure database of pensioners to work with.

According to her, the current administration was concerned with the plight of the senior citizens who have served the country meritorious and determined to make life ease for them.

Ikeazor, spoke with newsmen after monitoring the verification exercise at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Centre, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

She also disclosed that mobile verification exercise would be carried out by visiting the retirees who are sick in their homes or hospitals to verify them.

The Public Relations Officer of Nigeria Union of Pensioners -Federal (NUP), Mr Samuel Onabajo, who commended PTAD for the hitch-free exercise, appealed to the Federal government to promptly release fund for the payment of the pensioners.

He decried the situation where pensioners die in the process of pursuing their claims, saying many of the pensioners die as a result of suffering and frustration in getting their entitlements.