New Telegraph

Pension: FG clears £26.5m repatriated fund for agency

Retirees’ arrears hit 120bn

The £26. 5 million repatriated pension fund in custody of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is currently undergoing necessary administrative process, New Telegraph has learnt. Findings also showed that the pension agency had secured the nod of President Muhammadu Buhari to utilise the repatriated facility to offset pension liabilities.

Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, affirmed this position in her response to New Telegraph’s inquiry on the status of the repatriated money. According to her: “it is going through administrative process. We have certainly gotten approval. We will deploy it to offset pension liabilities. But what I can tell you is it is still going through administrative process.”

In June this year, PTAD secured the fund from the United Kingdom. The money was pension investment managed by Crown Agents Investment Management Limited, United Kingdom. Efforts to have it repatriated in past were mired by bureaucracy. Last year, President Buhari, having given PTAD his nod to pay pensioners their arrears, approved the repatria-tion of the money from custody of the UK-based investment firm, Crown Agents Investment Management Limited. There were series of meetings between PTAD and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation ( AGF) to facilitate possession of the fund.

The money, she said, would be used to settle part of the accrued arrears owed to its pensioners worth over N120 billion. She had described the development as a very happy and welcome one for the senior citizens, noting that it represented another demonstration of the importance that the Buhari-led Federal Government places on the welfare of pensioners.

A pensioner with Nicon Insurance Plc, who spoke to New Telegraph in respect of the £26.5 million repatriated fund, commended President Buhari and PTAD management. The retiree, who asked not to be named, pleaded with PTAD on payment of pension arrears to retirees of Nicon Insurance.

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