PTAD clears N7.53bn pension arrears owed defunct NICON Insurance, Delta Steel Company pensioners

The Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has said that it has completed payment of the last lap of the 196-months old pension arrears owed to pensioners of two defunct/privatised government companies – NICON Insurance PLC and Delta Steel Company.

Executive Secretary, PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, made this known at a recent press conference held at the Directorate’s headquarters in Abuja.

“Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate is delighted to announce the complete liquidation of the outstanding 56 months of inherited pension liabilities for NICON Insurance and 49 months owed to ex-workers of Delta Steel Company.

“For NICON Insurance, a total of 100 months were inherited, while a total 96 months were also inherited, totalling N7,053,150,468,” she said.

Ejikeme further said, “In February 2017, PTAD received directive from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to take over the management of pensions and severance benefit liabilities of ex-workers of some defunct/privatised agencies, including Delta Steel Company, NICON Insurance PLC, Savannah Sugar Company, NITEL/MTEL, Aluminium Smelter Company, Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), among others.

“These companies were commercial entities of the Federal Government that were privatised or liquidated under the Bureau of Public Enterprise 1999-2005 Public Enterprise Privatisation/Commercialisation Reform.

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“This exercise resulted in the disengagement of a considerable number of public sector employees. In February when PTAD was given the directive to on-board pensioners from these agencies, they were inherited with unpaid monthly pension and arrears ranging from 84 to 219 months while some of the agencies entitled to one-off payments had not been paid.

“Since 2017, PTAD has been liquidating the unfunded pension liabilities of these agencies. As at December 2021, PTAD had completely liquidated the inherited pension liabilities of New Nigerian Newspapers, the Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, made one-off payments to Savannah Sugar, the Aluminium Smelter Company beneficiaries and their next of kins and also Nigerian Aviation Handling Company beneficiaries and had settled some months of arrears of others.

“It is worthy to note at this point that the inherited unfunded liabilities for these defunt agencies at inception was to the tune of N95,000,000,000. Currently  these defunct agencies have a total monthly pension bill of N2,298,893,321,08 and annual bill of N62,073,219,358,32, representing 44 per cent of the total monthly/annual pension bill of the Parastatals Pension Department.

“As at today, we have settled a total of over N39 billion of the inherited N95 billion, with N3.4 billion of the amount making up one-off payments. These payments are ongoing.”

“I had assured earlier and on several occasions assured our esteemed pensioners from the defunct and privatised agencies that PTAD was working tirelessly to ensure their retirement and severance benefits were paid as soon as possible. I am glad that these efforts are now yielding results, and I must commend our pensioners for their patience and support all these years.”

On the “I Am Alive” programme aimed at easing verification of pensioners and eradicating fraud in pension administration and management, the Dr Ejikeme said, “Having concluded with the pilot phase of the “I Am Alive” confirmation solution that was launched sometime last year, may I also use this opportunity to inform the media and our pensioners that the Directorate has concluded plans for the full roll-out of the “I Am Alive” confirmation solution, which is the way forward in terms of pensioner’s aliveness validation under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

“The “I Am Alive” confirmation solution is a web-based solution that we have designed and launched to enable our pensioners to easily confirm their ‘aliveness’ from the comfort of their homes or neighbourhood using either a smartphone or a computer system.

“The full details for the roll-out of the “I Am Alive” confirmation solution will be announced in due course. We can all agree that this solution will eliminate the risk and stress involved in travelling to various locations for field verifications, and demonstrates PTAD’s desire to make life easier for our senior citizens and ensure they continue to enjoy their retirement without stress.”