Government presents bond certificates to 438 retirees 

As Ponnle Reiterates ‘Pay-As-You-Go Plan For Pensioners

The Lagos State Government has presented bond certificates to 438 retirees of the state public service worth over 1.182 billion at a ceremony held at the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) House in Ikeja, Lagos State.

At the event, which had in attendance the Commissioner of Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, the retirees expressed joy over the bond certificates presented to them. They, however, appealed to the state government to expedite action on the pay-as-you-go plan of the state in order to alleviate retirees’ suffering by paying them their pensions as when due.

Ponnle, who addressed the retirees, stated that the government recognises their plight and assured them of the state’s effort to ensure that workers gain access to their pension once they retire.

“Today, Lagos State is giving out over 1.182 billion to 438 retirees in today’s bond ceremony. Since the inception of this administration, Mr. Governor has ensured that we put the right procedure in place to make sure we clear backlogs of the pensions that we have.

“As at today, we have been able to pay over N39 billion to 10,380 retirees and we do that on a monthly basis. We pay out about N1 billion to retirees and we put procedures in place to ensure that we have a provision on a monthly basis.

“And we pray that by the end of Mr. Governor’s first term in office, this administration would have paid all the backlogs, so that as the retirees get to that point, they are on a pay-as-you-go basis.

They will collect their pension at the point of retirement. That is what we are working towards in Lagos State at the moment,” she said.

On other plans for the retirees, the Commissioner said: “On the welfare we are planning for the retirees, there seems to be a delay in the implementation of the policy that we are putting in place. This is really due to the fact that we wanted to ensure that we cover all to ensure that the welfare scheme is done effectively and efficiently.

“We wanted to ensure that we are actually targeting the right beneficiaries. So, we have to more or less go back to the drawing board to ensure that we put in place the right technology that will support the scheme that we want to introduce.

“We will also have an extensive discussion with the necessary agency – Lagos State Health Management Scheme, the transportation family and also Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA). What we have managed to do now is to get a process whereby we have one single card that is chip-enabled, that each pensioner will hold and it will have different pockets.

“So, you can load money for transport, for health insurance scheme and this will make the process almost seamless and a lot more easier for us to manage than the strategy we wanted to do before. That is why it seemed it is being delayed.

“But I can assure you that the plans are at an advance stage because we are basically waiting for LASRRA to finish with the cards that are going to be used. And new cards that we are going to issue to the pensioners will be used to access these two benefits that we are working on. In just a little bit more time and we will start the implementation before the end of this year hopefully,” she stated.