By Christiana Onuoha
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), has said that the consequential adjustment of the new pension payment will start from the May2021 payroll.
PTAD Executive Secretary, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, stated this in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on 30th April, 2021.
The statement which followed the recent approval of the consequential adjustment of pension arrears by President
Mohammadu Buhari, and a circular to government offices and agencies from the Office of the Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) affirming the approval, stated;” 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 grantedand 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 May2021 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 for 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 for 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.”
