TheCable

Aisha Dahir-Umar, acting director-general of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), says the federal government is working to release funds to the next batch of retirees.

Speaking with NAN on Wednesday, Dahir-Umar said the government had begun modalities for pension payments to the retirees.

The acting director-general explained that those who had perfected documentation and verification processes would be captured for the payments in the next batch.

She recalled that the federal government had released N54 billion in April to clear pension backlog arrears and was used for pension payments of the last batch of retirees.

“Despite conflicting demands for available cash, President Buhari had always expressed concern about the plight of workers and pensioners,” Dahir-Umar.

“It has brought relief to thousands of our elders who have served and deserve to be paid their entitlements promptly and fully.”

According to her, errors in documentation was responsible for those who did not receive payment in the last batch.

“Currently, the commission has almost finished for this year; we are at the Women Centre Abuja doing for agencies located within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),” the director-general said.

“Likewise we have verification centres across the country.’’

She refuted allegations that the commission and pension fund administrators (PFAs) delayed payments and misappropriated monies of pensioners.

Dahir-Umar said the commission and the PFAs were being monitored by the government and guarded by core principles that could not be truncated.

She added that the PFAs usually paid the pensioners that registered under them without delay, once the federal government released the fund through PenCom.