FG approves pension increment to reflect national minimum wage

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of the consequential adjustment to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) in line with the minimum wage approved in 2019.

Chioma Ejikeme, the Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), disclosed this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja.

She said that with the presidential approval, PTAD had been empowered to start the upward adjustment of all pensioners’ benefits according to the approved template.

Mrs Ejikeme said the adjustment of the new pension payment would start from May 2021 adding that the payment of the arrears would cover the period of the implementation of the minimum wage.

“The arrears from April 2019 will be paid along with the pensioners’ monthly benefit starting from May 2021 payroll.”

She said that on April 22, ”a statement was released to inform the public of the president’s sincerity to implement the consequential adjustment on the pension benefits through PTAD”.

“I emphasise that the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has no reason to go on protest because the matter has been finalised.

“True to that statement, we are here today to confirm that the consequential adjustment will be implemented from May 2021 payroll.

“As a responsible agency of government saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the payment of pension benefits to pensioners under the DBS and their welfare, we are encouraged to do more for our pensioners.

“And we will continue to strive to improve the quality of their lives,” she said.

Ms Ejikeme also said that PTAD would not request the senior citizens to pay any gratification to anybody before they receive their money.

The executive secretary advised them not to give their account details to anybody, and to report any scammer to any of the security agencies or PTAD.

“We have concluded arrangements to send SMS to all pensioners, informing them of the payment and to caution them on the activities of the pension scammers.

“The time has come for DBS pensioners to continue to eat the fruits of their labour.

“We appeal to pension unions to always cooperate with the directorate in order to further facilitate better welfare opportunities for our pensioners,” Ejikeme said.