Abuja, Nov. 29, 2023: The Senate has tasked its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to investigate the activities of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) over unpaid pension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This followed the adoption of a motiond \u201c on the need to address the travails of pensioners, their next-of-kin and deceased relatives over unpaid pensions, gratuities and other entitlements\u201d, by Sen. Kelvin Chukwu (LP-Enugu) at Tuesday\u2019s plenary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presenting the motion, Chukwu said there were undue delays in payment of pensions, gratuities and other entitlements, causing sufferings and trauma to retirees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDue to bureaucratic bottlenecks and endemic corruption in the payment process, the situation has subjected many pensioners to abject penury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith some even dying in queues of protracted and never- ending verification exercises that yield little or no result whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe prevailing issues include the non-payment of outstanding arrears to scores of pensioners, non- enrolment of thousands of pensioners on the pension payroll, non-payment of death benefits to deserving Next-of-Kin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is made worse by improper keeping of records, unscrupulous officials who demand different documents and call for similar verification exercises time and time again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the administration of the pension funds had been enmeshed in unprecedented corruption over the years with some public officers, institutions of government and even banks all complicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawmaker said that except pensioners received fair and prompt treatment, the country was unwittingly encouraging the propensity of civil servants to be corrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is as a career in civil service is no more attractive especially as senior citizens are treated shabbily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt goes further to speak of our value system as any society that cannot treat its elderly citizens with care, respect and dignity advertises its disregard for values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chukwu said that considering the fact that senior citizens were no longer relevant in the labour market, the government must do something drastically to ameliorate the trauma and sufferings of pensioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter many years of hard labour, a worker is indeed entitled to some peace and security at old age,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abuja, Nov. 29, 2023: The Senate has tasked its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to investigate the activities of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) over unpaid pension. This followed the adoption of a motiond \u201c on the need to address the travails of pensioners, their next-of-kin and deceased relatives over unpaid pensions, gratuities and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[949],"tags":[287],"class_list":["post-54454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-pension","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n