FG begins enrolment for 2020 retirees

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Monday commenced the verification and enrolment of employees of Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) due to retire between January to December 2020.

The Head, Corporate Communications Department, PenCom, Mr Peter Aghahowa at the inauguration of the two-day exercise said it was meant for employees who had attained the age of 60 or 35 years in service.

He said others included in the exercise were employees of tertiary institutions who had served for 35 years or had attained 70 years of age.

Aghahowa said that the retirees were asked to come with their employment letters, promotion letters and other documents to enable the commission to calculate what their benefits would be.

He also advised impending retirees to obtain their National Identity Number (NIN) because its now one of the requirements for the exercise.

“The overall intention of PenCom is to calculate and transmit the total liability to the Federal Government so that adequate budgetary provisions will be made for retirees in the year 2020.

“On the issue of Accrued Rights, I want to assure the general public that the backlog is being cleared.

“The government is releasing funds and as they release funds, we are clearing the backlog. Right now, we have cleared up to August 2018.

“This is why we are pushing for more funds to be budgeted and released to PenCom so that we can clear much of the backlog,’’ he said.

Aghahowa said that the PenCom office was still open for those that could not make it for the two-day exercise for one reason or the other.

Meanwhile, a future retiree, Hajiya Aishatu Ibrahim urged PenCom to work on their servers and network so that the enrolment exercise would be seamless.

“My advice to those that are still in service is that they should start preparing for retirement by getting involved in a business.

“You cannot cope with retirement allowance alone. You need to augment your income and that’s why its important to start a business now,’’ she said.

Mr Chinedu Kosisochukwu appealed to the government to take steps to resolve on time the delay in payment of Accrued Rights.

“I am afraid to think that when I retire, it will take up to a year before I start receiving my pension. Please Government should do something about that.

“At least when one retirees, within one to two months payments of entitlements should start. We hope that the government achieves this soon,’’ he said.

Kosisochukwu said that delay in payments was also one of the causes of corruption in the civil service, as workers steal to “save for the rainy day.’’

(NAN)