MORE THAN I5,000 LAGOS RETIREES GET N66.5BN ACCRUED PENSION RIGHTS

A total of 15,709 retirees from the Lagos State civil service have been paid N66.5 billion as their accrued pension rights since the commencement of the Retirement Benefit Bond Certificate Presentations in 2010.

Eyes Of Lagos gathered that, Disclosing this at the 46th Retirement Benefits Bond Certificate presentation ceremony in Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday, the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pension, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, added that, from August, 2015 to December, 2017, the state government has paid accrued pension rights of N33 billion to 8,300 retirees. The accrued pension rights previously paid before the current administration (2010 to mid- 2015) amounts to N33, 645 billion to 7,409 retirees, he said.

Stating that the state government is committed to the regular contribution of the monthly deduction of 7.5 per cent from the salary of every employee and the payment of the employer’s 7.5 per cent contribution, he stressed that the total contributions remitted to the Pension Fund Administrators(PFAs) from April, 2007 to November 2017 now stands at N83 billion.

According to him, “the Lagos State Government’s funding of employees’ pension rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme in a period of 10 years is about N150 billion and today, the sum of N1 billion will be credited into the Retirement Savings Account(RSAs) of the 46th batch of retirees under the CPS.”

He promised that Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Pension Commission(LASPEC) will continue to ensure that public service retirees not only get what is due to them statutorily, but also continue to receive, through other agencies and programmes, further and additional support and assistance that will add value to their lives in retirement.

Earlier, the Director General, LASPEC, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga, had disclosed that under the current administration in the state, 8,262 retirees have received their bond certificates adding that, the State, through the commission, has paid to 104 named beneficiaries of deceased employees in the Mainstream Civil Service, insurance benefit of N325 million from August 2015 till date.

This insured death benefit, according to her, is by law to be paid to named beneficiaries to alleviate the immediate needs of the family members.

From January, 2017, she stressed that the responsibility of payment of the insured death benefit has been ceded over to the insurance department of the Ministry of Finance.

Promising that the State Government, through her commission, will not rest on its oars until employees retire and get their accrued pension rights immediately they exit from the service, she pointed out that Lagos state is very resolute in forging ahead with the CPS which is one of the finest things democracy has bequeathed on Nigerian workers.