Lagos pays N742m accrued pension rights to 255 retirees

•As total settlement hits N30b

The Lagos State Government has disbursed N742million to 255 retirees in the month of August, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has said.The Governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, at the 42nd Retirement Bond Certificate Presentation in Lagos, said Lagos cares, and is committed by being up-to-date in pension payment, while imploring the retirees not to live extravagantly.

He noted that in two years from August 2015 to August 2017, the Administration of Ambode through the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), has paid over N30billion to retirees into the RSA of 7,232 retirees in the form of accrued pension rights; an achievement, no other State has attained.

The Director-General, LASPEC, Folashade Onanuga, advised the retirees on healthy living. She used the medium to educate the beneficiaries, who still have relatives and friends in service on the importance of making Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC), into the Retirement Savings Account (RSA).
She said: “The deduction field for AVC is now on the State Government’s Oracle HR application. The AVC will guarantee more comfortable life for retirees as the funds are invested and can be accessed immediately by a retiree on retirement. It can also be used to boost pension received in retirement.”

In appreciation, three retirees, messrs Isiaka Ayinde, Adeniji Kayode, and Fasasi Popoola, showered encomiums on Ambode for his magnanimity and fear of God, considering how far his administration had gone in the payment of entitlement rights.

They said: “Lagos is making pensioners happy, we pray God should make Governor Ambode succeed in all his undertakings. We want to thank our Governor for the quality of staff he employed in LASPEC. They have good disposition towards us and they are always respectful and warm in their dealings with us.”

Retirees paid were from the Mainstream Civil Service, Local Governments, and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Teachers Establishments and Pensions Office (TEPO), under the Contributory Pension Scheme.