Uche Usim, Abuja

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has assured government retirees that their money is safely kept in the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy. 

The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme,  gave the assurance in Abuja on Monday at the Maitama verification centre for pensioners, even as she allayed the fears of the anxious retirees who claimed to have learnt that government was planning to borrow their pension funds for other ventures.

She said: “Before now, government money was kept in commercial banks like Union, UBA etc which you could access.

“Now, such money is in CBN vault under the TSA arrangement. We use a code to access each of you and ensure CBN credits you. We don’t physically see your money but electronically. No one has access to your money. Disabuse your mind from that rumour”, she said.

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According to Ejikeme, the Directorate has since secured Federal Government’s approval to pay the outstanding 24 months of the 33 per cent pension arrears, assuring them that the money would hit their accounts once there is cash  backing.

She explained: “We have the approval to pay the 33 per cent arrears. Once we have cash backing, we would pay. We pray it happens soon, even before the end of the year. “For this administration, pensioners and their next of kin are a priority.

We have been paying the next of kin of verified pensioners and we will continue to pay.

“We want to ensure all eligible pensioners are captured and paid their pension regularly as due. That is what this verification exercise is for.

“Mr President is a pensioner, so is Minister of Finance that releases the money and myself. We feel what you feel. These ex-workers spent their active years serving Nigeria. We can’t abandon them at old age. The government cares. “However, resources of government has been dwindling. We have to ensure this verification exercise is thoroughly carried out. You’ll all be on our database. We need to know the true number of pensioners. There will be continuous verification at our offices nationwide because it’s an ongoing process.