It was gathered that the Federal Government has increased its monthly allocation to pension payment by 24.68 per cent from N6.24bn to N7.78bn, a report from the National Pension Commission has indicated.
About 217,619 retired workers are on the Federal Government’s payroll, according to the report as of June 2016.
The report was said to be an update of the activities of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate.
The PTAD, it stated, had a total number of 217,619 federal retirees on its payroll in March, when it was getting N6.24bn as monthly pension allocation.
“An analysis of the returns revealed that 15,497 more pensioners were included in the PTAD payroll, representing 7.12 per cent increase to cumulatively stand at 217,619 pensioners at the end of the quarter. In addition, the monthly pension bill for the PTAD jumped by 24.68 per cent (N1.54bn) totalling a monthly pension bill of N7.78bn as of June, 2016,” it stated.
According to PenCom, some complaints were received by the commission from pensioners under the scheme.
It stated that the complaints included stoppage of monthly pension; non-payment of pension benefits; and reduction in the federal monthly pensions.
PenCom stated that the complaints were forwarded to the PTAD for prompt attention.
Meanwhile, some unpaid Federal Government retirees have threatened a showdown with the government over their unpaid pensions and gratuities.
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, (Federal Branch) Lagos also accused the government of not knowing the actual number of its pensioners.
The Association of Retired Senior Public Officers of Nigeria also expressed its dissatisfaction with the recent delisting of about 15,128 pensioners including some of its members from Federal Government’s payroll last year.
ARFESPON, made up of retired management level officers from salary grade level 14 to permanent secretaries, comptrollers-generals of Customs, Immigration and Prisons and career ambassadors, lamented that because of the delisting, some of its members had not received their pension benefits since November last year.
