Uche Usim, Abuja
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Sunday revealed it had settled the death benefit of 759 deceased workers via their Next-Of-Kin (NoK). It includes the pensioners who died after service.
Beneficiaries include 259 NoKs of defunct Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Delta Steel Company Limited (DSC), New Nigeria Newspapers (NNN), Nigerian Reinsurance Corp. Plc and NICON Insurance Plc.
The agency in a statement said the 259 were in addition to 500 NITEL NoKs who had already been paid the sum of N1,565,190,623.12k following the conclusion of documentation and federal audit clearance for payment.
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The directorate explained that in the computation of the final entitlements, there was no common cut-off date as the agencies concerned were privatised at different dates. It also pointed out that the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) had paid commuted pension (equivalent to five years pension) to all those eligible at the time of privatisation.
“Therefore, the payment made by PTAD only covered the period between the end of the five years after privatisation and the date of demise of the principal pensioners, as only claims beyond those five years are justifiable under extant laws.
“The NOKs of those who died before the expiration of the five year post privatisation period are not entitled to any additional benefits as the payment made by BPE qualified as guaranteed pension in conformity with the law,” it said