Raphael Ede, Enugu
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has said that former Biafran police officers would soon get their retirement benefits as 500 of them have been verified.
PTAD Executive Secretary, Sharon Ikeazor, disclosed this, on Wednesday, at the South East Stakeholders engagement forum.
She noted that 159 of them had actually been pay-rolled as they were able to present evidence of their service to the Nigeria Police.
Ikeazor said that during the flag off of the exercise in Enugu, in 2017, 206 ex-war police officers and 67 next of kin were paid gratuity and retirement benefits amounting to N887, 652,117 between 2015 and 2018.
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She said that N87,357,470.35k was paid in gratuity and pension in 2015; N662,404,800.98k was paid in pension in 2017 while N137,889,845.30k was paid in pension in 2018.
The Executive Secretary also said that the next of kins of affected police officers who died before May 29, 2000, were not qualified for benefits, explaining that it was based on the memo by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, dated September 17, 2001 and approved by the President, which stated that “the question of payment of arrears of salaries from 16th January, 1970 to 29th May, 2000 should not arise as the conversion from dismissal to retirement was not retroactive”.
Ikeakor said that only those with the letter of amnesty issued by the Police Service Commission (PSC), pension advice and pension authority, authority for payment of pension and gratuity, computation sheet, evidence of service with the Nigeria Police Force and letter of introduction from Association of Retired War police Officers (ARWAPO), letter of administration from a high court, death certificate from a recognised government hospitals and evidence of payment received from PSC in 2006 and 2007 would be attended to.
