National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Pensioners under the aegis of Association of Retired Federal Senior Public Officers of Nigeria, ARFESPON, have called on the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, to commence payment of the new national minimum wage to pensioners.
President of the group, Mr. Olufemi Dewabi, who made the call, in Lagos, yesterday, said the Salaries and Wages Commission came up with table for the payment of the new national minimum wage for pensioners, which was approved and endorsed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dewabi said: “You will recall that hitherto, our prayers on outstanding entitlements are yet to be answered. The carryover is mounting and this has turned our perception otherwise.
“You remember the Salaries and Wages Commission came up with table (Vide Circular Ref SWC/S/04/S542/1/298, Annex of April 28, 2021) for the payment of the new national minimum wage for pensioners which is their statutory responsibility and was approved and endorsed by Mr. President.
“PTAD overruled the table and thus derailed the government from achieving its intension to make life better for pensioners.
One wonders what the supervising Minister/Ministry is doing to checkmate the action of PTAD as it operates as a parallel government by introducing its own, which disrupted and brought down officers from their genuine grade level on retirement to lower salary grade level. Attention of some relative functionaries and offices had been variously drawn to these shortcomings.
“It is rather unfortunate that the Offices of the Head of Service and Secretary of the Federal Government have not been seen or heard to be reacting or to be correcting these anomalies. These anomalies have been highlighted by various groups for long. This non-action is tantamount to compromise and endorsement of the poor attitude of PTAD.
“If the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation still has the mandatory responsibility to audit the allocation and disbursement of funds for federal offices, then something must be done.
“Now that pensioners have been short changed for 551/2 months as at November 2023, then what is the position of the account? May we also ask what happened to this deduction and short changed collected? Is it treated as revenue or unspent balance?”
(Vanguard)
