£26.5m Colonial pension fund repatriated has been used to pay pensioners – PTAD

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has announced that it has received 26.5 million pounds from the United Kingdom, an amount which was left over of the money used to pay British colonial officers who worked in Nigeria.

The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, disclosed this today during the 58th Ministerial briefing at the state house.

The PTAD chief stated that the amount recovered was used to clear outstanding arrears to pensioners across all the pension departments, particularly the huge arrears inherited from the defunct and privatized agencies.

Also recovered as legacy pension assets by the directorate is the sum of 17.85 billion naira from Boards of Trustees and Underwriters of Treasury Funded Federal Parastatals.

The PTAD boss further revealed that the directorate has paid over 610 billion naira from January 2015 to December 2021 in monthly pensions, noting that that it had achieved 90 percent of its mandate.

The PTAD boss also stated that the pension agency will pursue the implementation of a five yearly pension review in 2024.

Dr Ejikeme also disclosed that the 1999 Nigeria Constitution, as amended had provided for the five yearly review, as the last review was carried out in 2019.