Benjamin Omoike I Saturday, April 14, 2018
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – The Lagos state government says it has paid about N22 billion to pensioners in the last 12 months. Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, revealed this while giving account of his ministry in the last one year, at the on-going 2018 ministerial press briefing to mark the third anniversary of governor Akinwunmi Ambode in office.
Giving a breakdown of the payment, Oke said from May 2017 to date, contributions by employees and those of the employer credited into the Retirement Savings Account is N9.56B while another N9.3B was paid as terminal entitlements of 2,466 retirees. He added that within the last one year, also, N3.2B was paid as pension by Civil Service Pensions Office, Teachers Establishment and Pensions and Judiciary Service Commission.
Speaking on pension deductions and remittance, he said there have been regular deductions of 7.5 per cent of monthly basic salary, rent and housing allowances from the salaries of staff and corresponding 7.5 per cent by the state government into the Retirement Savings Accounts, maintained by their appointed Pension Fund Administrators.
When the Commissioner was asked why the state government had not complied with the pension administration policy which increased the contribution of employers to 10 per cent and that of the employee to eight per cent, he declined comment, evading the question and abruptly brought the press briefing to a close.
To ensure continuous attention to retirees, he said pensioners over 70 years would be given welfare packages and about 8,000 pensioners were being targeted for the benefit.
“During the period under review, 80 beneficiaries of deceased employees had been paid the total sum of N220 million. The state government in the last 31 months has through the Commission paid to 130 beneficiaries Insurance benefit worth N392 million.”
The Commissioner disclosed that one of the parastatals under his watch, Public Service Staff Development Centre, (PSSDC), between April 2017 and March 2018, conducted structured training programmes and promotion exercise for 20,129 staff.
