Federal pensioners urge PTAD to address persistent arrears issues
…As PTAD denies widespread problems
By Esther Agbo
A group of federal pensioners under the umbrella of Concerned Federal Pensioners has raised fresh allegations against the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), accusing the agency of neglecting to resolve their outstanding pension arrears.
During a recent meeting in Lagos, members of the group shared their frustrations over delays and irregularities in pension payments, which they claim have caused undue hardship, especially for retirees who rely solely on their pensions.
The chairman of the group and a retiree from the Federal Ministry of Defence, Buraimoh Kasali, expressed deep concern over the plight of his fellow pensioners.
“They are not paying our pensions as and when due and other entitlements due to us are not been paid. Our attempts to resolve these challenges have not yielded a positive response so far. For some of us, our pension for August was just paid and we are in September,” Kasali said.
Echoing Kasali’s concerns, the association’s vice chairman, Akinyele Oludimu, accused PTAD of ignoring their grievances. He described a widespread issue of underpayments, with some pensioners going years without receiving their gratuities or being added to the payroll.
“It has been a long time that we have been battling with PTAD, who are in charge of our pension payments. For a long time, many of our members have been short-paid, some didn’t receive their gratuity after working for many years for the Federal Government and many are not even on the payroll and it gives me a lot of headache to hear these complaints of our members.
“We are crying out to let the whole world hear about what our members are going through, especially those who are blind and can’t go to PTAD or even have the opportunity to tell what they are going through. Our members are dying in silence. Some of them have not received their pension payment for a long time.
“We have some members who due to factors, such as documentation and the negligence of PTAD, have not been paid their pension for more than 10 years. It is sad. Many of them are ageing and can’t help themselves,” Oludimu lamented.
PTAD, however, has defended its actions. According to a public announcement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle, a technical glitch was responsible for the delayed August payments, and the agency assured retirees that efforts were being made to resolve the issue.
A source within PTAD, speaking anonymously, denied that the challenges described by the pensioners were widespread.
“That is a generalisation. We don’t have such complaints here. If there are individual pensioners experiencing challenges, it is personal to them and doesn’t mean that we will not ask them to go through the required scrutiny before pensions are paid to them.
“Since the inception of PTAD, there has been no month that it doesn’t pay pension, not a single month so where are their complaints coming from?
“On the recent increment made, PTAD has paid. To my understanding, we don’t have such complaints here. If there are pensioners facing challenges, they should sort it out with the directorate,” the source said.
Established in 2013, PTAD is tasked with administering the Defined Benefits Scheme, ensuring that pensioners who retired before the 2004 pension reforms receive their benefits.
Despite its assurances, the pensioners’ ongoing struggles raise questions about the agency’s operational efficiency and whether more reforms are needed to safeguard the welfare of retirees across the country.
