The Pension Transitional Administration Directorate (PTAD) has verified 2,596 federal civil service pensioners in Niger State.
According to the Head Pension Officer of PTAD, Abubakar Aboki, the verification was to authenticate the pensioners who are already on its payroll and bring on board pensioners that have not been payrolled.
Speaking to The Nation in Minna at the end of the verification exercise, he said that PTAD is out to ensure that every civil servant who retires and is eligible should be payrolled and paid his rightful pension.
“The exercise is for those who have worked in the regional government and retired before 31st March, 2011 and the pure federal civil servants who retired before 30th June, 2007.
“Our aim is to re-compute the entire payment of the pensioners and immediately commence payment. The payment may take a few months due to the large number of pensioners that we have.”
Aboki also said that PTAD will check its record to see that those who are being over paid are brought down to their normal entitlement.
He stated that throughout the verification exercise, no ghost pensioner was discovered, adding that dates have been set to visit pensioners who are decapitated and hospitalised with the aim of capturing them.
The Nation spoke with some of the pensioners who described the process as fast and efficient as most of them hope the payment of their pension will no longer be delayed.
Maiyaki Umar said the exercise is different from other verification exercises he had been to, saying “the process is good and stress-free. It is more detailed and the people are friendly and polite.”