PTAD uncovers 9,000 ghost pensioners amid fresh reforms

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, has so far uncovered 9000 ghost pensioners in the on-going verification exercise.

This was disclosed by the new Executive Secretary, PTAD, Sharon Ikeazor at a parley with journalists in Abuja.

She said one of the major challenges inherited was lack of credible database. And as part of the ways to sanitize pension
programme, no payment is made to any account that has no BVN.

It was through that process that 9000 accounts have been “dropped” so far.But more are likely to be uncovered as the verification exercise is continuing.

“What I inherited at PTAD, I will be honest, I won’t say the database is credible, because (of) years of neglect. So what I intend to do at the moment is to make sure that we have a credible database so that pensioners that are being paid are the right ones. And now we have already partnered with ICPC.We have established an anti-corruption too in PTAD .So what we are doing now is we don’t make any pension payment into any account that doesn’t have a BVN.

“That way we have dropped about 9000 pensioners …because they don’t have BVN. Without BVN presupposes they are ghosts … We inherited a lot of data that we can’t really verify.That is why the verification exercise is key for us.We have only done two zones in Nigeria, the north west and the South East zones. So we are just completing those ones now.”

Ikeazor also said she has realized the need to have “competent staff, people who are compassionate about what they do. Because the pensioners they come in there, the staff are not that trained. So they don’t handle them with compassion.

“You know, the old, you need patience to really deal with them. Though we have established a call centre that you can now call in with your complaints. We have a website with a portal that you can key in your complaints and all that but it’s still work in progress. My mission is actually to give dignity back to our pensioners”.

Already she has drawn up a time table for the verification exercise to move to the north east in order to key into the federal government’s rehabilitation programme.

“I have the time table of north east verification because as I came in I felt we should key into the Federal Government’s rebuilding of the north east because It’s like the zone is more or less almost forgotten, nobody wants to go there.

“But we, the PTAD staff, we are all going in Monday the 28th into Gombe, Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi to start verifying all the civil service pensioners. Then for Yobe and Borno, once we work out the logistics of it, we will go into Yobe and Borno as well.

“Part of the challenges facing the agency is the slow manual processes and poor service delivery as well as negative perception.”

However, the new management has unfolded new reforms. These reforms are geared toward regular and prompt monthly payment of benefits, excellent pensioner service characterized by empathy band care, zero tolerance for fraud and new emphasis on accountability and compliance with regulations.

Aside from the verification effort which is being extended to the north east, PTAD will move to the south south to ensure similar exercise in the South South and others.

Some of the ongoing activities the agency has outlined also include computation and payment of outstanding benefits, clearing of 33 percent balance payment, clearing outstanding complaints, realigning internal institutional structures and charting the long term direction for the agency.

Ikeazor who is now called ‘Mama Pension’ disclosed that she is taking her assignment at PTAD personal because of her passion for issues that border on tackling injustice.

She recalled that her relative who was a pensioner was very excited after her appointment. Sadly, the man died few days later.

The new pension boss said her being a politician puts her in a better stead to perform very well in her new role as it avails her the necessary skills and networks for solving knotty issues that may arise.

She equally expressed her readiness to tackle the tackle the pension mafia if they rear their heads.

Ikeazor who seemed determined to turn the fortunes of the pension arrangement around insisted that she was prepared to lead by example. For example, she will be at the head of the verification team that will go to Borno once the logistics are worked out, she disclosed.

Credit: https://www.today.ng