Concerned NEPA/PHCN pensioners have raised the alarm over what they called the deliberate withholding of over N350 billion in cumulative entitlements spanning 25 years, accusing the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) of fraudulent manipulation and corruption.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the group’s coordinator, Dunmoye Oladimeji, detailed their plights under PTAD management.
“We have over 25 years of entitlement arrears to collect that we have not collected since 2000, when we were disengaged from service. We were short paid 42 per cent of our gratuity and subsequently our monthly pensions,” Oladimeji explained.
The pensioners listed 13 categories of withheld entitlements, including the 33 per cent pension rate increase approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan in July 2010, electricity rebates stopped in 2012 and various recent increments introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The retirees accused PTAD of employing deceptions and manipulations in their official responses to complaints.
They claimed that despite the Federal Government funding through appropriation acts from 2017 to 2022, PTAD has consistently refused payment, giving excuses such as funds being domiciled and safe in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“They told us payment would commence immediately after the biometric exercise conducted between April and November 2019, but six years later, we have received nothing,” Oladimeji stated.
The pensioners said instead of the approved 33 percent pension increase, PTAD fraudulently paid only 9.7 per cent in December 2021/January 2022, claiming it was based on a court settlement they dispute.
The group disclosed that they engaged Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana to petition former President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2021, demanding payment by January 31, 2022. They have since written twice to President Tinubu directly in April 2024 and through their lawyer in July 2025.
“We have equally written not less than four letters, including chats and text messages, to the Honourable Minister of Finance without getting any response. We visited his office in Abuja more than 10 times between March 2024 and April 2025 without an audience,” the pensioners lamented.
The retirees painted a grim picture of their current situation, with many bedridden, battling health challenges, or having died while awaiting their entitlements.
“Under this economic situation, it has been very tough. We all go to the same market that senators go to. Prices for our senators and politicians are not different from prices for pensioners, yet we’re at a serious disadvantage,” a pensioner stated during the briefing.
The group appealed to President Bola Tinubu to transfer their pension administration from PTAD to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), describing it as the last vestige of their former organisation still under direct Federal Government control.
“We humbly appeal to Tinubu, known for his compassionate disposition to senior citizens, to save our souls and put an end to our sufferings in the hands of this inhuman agency called PTAD,” they stated.
