By Bonaventure Phillips Melah

It is the responsibility of government to initiate and execute policies and programmes for the overall wellbeing of citizens. It is for that purpose that governments across the world, create many institutions and agencies, each with defined functions or roles, towards achieving that purpose.

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However, while some agencies strive to achieve the set goals and objectives for which they were created, others end up disappointing the people, by way of low-quality service delivery; and that has been one of the reasons Nigeria and many other countries of the world are facing so many challenges.

While it is true that many agencies and institutions of government and even the private sector, are grossly underperforming, there are others that are delivering topnotch services to the people; and that is where leadership comes in.

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According to Dale Carnegie- “Leadership is not about a title or a designation but impact, influence and inspiration.”

Recently. the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), implemented the new pension increment from January 2024 to August 2024 bringing joy and laughter to the affected senior citizens who have paid their dues in the service to fatherland.

The promptness with which PTAD implemented the new increment is another shouting testimony of the Directorate’s work approach- to do the right thing at the right time.

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Since the Federal Government established PTAD eleven years ago, the Agency has been blessed with committed and visionary leadership that have worked faithfully to make the life of pensioners under the Directorate much easier.

In the past six years, especially, PTAD has become an agency that is known for astonishing achievements, thanks to the strategies adopted by its management team, led by Dr. Chioma Nnenna Ejikeme, the Executive Secretary/CEO.

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One of the greatest revolutionary innovations by the federal government in recent years, is the “I Am Alive” Platform, an initiative of PTAD. It is a digital process that ensures continuous update of pensioners’ database to ascertain verified pensioners that are alive and should continue to receive their monthly pensions.

The “I Am Alive” platform has brought a 100 percent relieve as it makes it possible for pensioners to update their records within a matter of seconds by just pressing the App on their phones or computer, without the need to travel out of their homes.

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Apart from the ease with which pensioners complete the process, it has also proved to be the most potent and transparent strategy to ensure that only eligible pensioners who are alive are paid from government coffers, making it a positive deviation from the corruption-riddled past, when billions of Naira was paid to ‘ghosts,’ in the name of pensioners, even years after their death.

The “I Am Alive” innovation is just one of the many policy revolutions initiated and being executed by the management of PTAD, under the leadership of Dr. Chioma Nnenna Ejikeme.

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It must be a combination of these innovative policies, spiced by the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, and the very receptive and courteous behavioural pattern of PTAD’s staff, especially desk officers, towards pensioners, that the Agency has been described by many as the best performing government institution in Nigeria.

Apart from testimonies by pensioners, PTAD has continued to receive accolades and awards from many national and international institutions for its high-quality service delivery which complies with international best practices and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, GCFR.

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A few months ago, the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions commended Dr. Chioma Ejikeme and the management of PTAD for the wonderful work they are doing and promised to support the agency to ensure it gets all that it requires to do more for the benefit of pensioners and Nigeria in general.

The Committee gave the commendation when its Chairman, Hon. Hussaini Mohammed Jallo, led members on an oversight visit to headquarters PTAD in Abuja.

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After receiving them, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme updated the lawmakers of the many achievements recorded by PTAD over the years, some challenges facing the Agency and plans to improve the welfare of pensioners under the federal Defined Benefit Scheme as mandated by the Pension Reform Act, 2014, especially with regards to Harmonisation of pensions, and the statutory pension increment as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.

For lack of space, let us look at a few of the many achievements which have combined to endear PTAD to pensioners and other stakeholders from within and outside the country.

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Right after its establishment, PTAD carried out field verification exercises across all the operational departments of the Directorate, namely: the Civil Service Pension Department; Police Pension Department; the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department; and the Parastatals Pension Department. The aim of the verification exercises was to ascertain eligible pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme, enroll eligible ones who were hitherto not on the Directorate’s Payroll, while promptly removing the unqualified.

The Directorate then built from scratch (1st of its kind) a digitized, centralized, comprehensive and credible database of pensioners and their pension records under the Defined Benefit Scheme in Nigeria; Automated Computation (Calculation) of Pension Benefits using computation software and recovered N17.85bn Legacy Pension Assets from Boards of Trustees and Underwriters of Treasury Funded Federal Parastatals which was applied to pay -off inherited outstanding pension arrears.

In addition, PTAD has achieved the Repatriation of ₤26.5m pension funds from the Crown Agents Investment Managers Limited, United Kingdom which was used to defray the inherited arrears of defunct agencies in December, 2021 and paid inherited liabilities amounting to over ₦40 billion including the 33% increment arrears owed pensioners in the Parastatals Pension Department since 2010; Completion of the one-off payment to 1,031 verified ex-workers of the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON); Completion of the one-off payment to 1,596 ex-workers of Savannah Sugar; one-off payment to 661 ex-workers of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO); Payment of ₦1.1bn pension arrears and gratuities to 303 pardoned War Affected Police Officers and Next -Of kin of deceased officers; Added 251 ex-workers of Assurance Bank to the payroll and paid their 69 months arrears and paid over ₦8.5billion as arrears of Pensions and Gratuities to Civil Service Pensioners and the Next-of-Kin of deceased pensioners.

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The Directorate also completely paid arrears arising from the consequential adjustment to pensions as a result of the increase in minimum wage of April 2019 to the four operational departments in the Directorate; Completely liquidated the 126 months outstanding liabilities due to 287 ex-workers of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation; Completes the payment of the 219 months of inherited liabilities to 509 Ex-workers of New Nigeria Newspaper Limited; Liquidated 92 months arrears owed 522 ex workers of the Nigeria National Shipping Line and placing them on the monthly payroll; Completed payment of the 100 months of inherited liabilities to 1,046 Ex-workers of NICON Insurance’ achieved complete payment of the 96 months of inherited liabilities to 3,657 Ex-workers of Delta Steel Company (DSC) and implemented the 9.7% increment to Ex-PHCN workers with ₦6.9bn paid as arrears.

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The Agency also paid a total of 49 months of the 84 months inherited arrears owed NITEL/MTEL pensioners in December 2022, leaving a balance of 35 months for complete liquidation.

Other landmark achievements of PTAD include embarking on a special project in December 2023 to look into non-payment of gratuity to some pensioners and death benefits to Next-of-Kin of deceased pensioners across all departments.

It is noteworthy that as at July 2024, over N395 million has been paid as death benefits and Gratuity to 238 Next-of-Kin and pensioners.

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As at today, the Directorate has 12 liaison offices across the 6 geopolitical zones which has helped in great measures in bringing pension service closer to DBS pensioners with mechanized file storage facilities for pensioners files.

The task of building a dream-nation is not the responsibility of one individual called the president, governor or minister. It requires that citizens play their own part, in whatever capacities they find themselves.

It is true however, that the burden is greater for those who sought for, and got elected or appointed into leadership positions in public service, as they have a duty to utilize the resources allocated to them, to impact the society positively and leave indelible footprints on the sands of time.

This is therefore a wakeup call to other agencies of government, to emulate PTAD by keying into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, so that together, we can make Nigeria overcome its challenges and take its rightful place among the comity of nations.

Bonaventure Phillips Melah is an Abuja-based journalist and author. Bonamelah123@gmail.com