Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has paid N68.5 billion in pension arrears to pensioners in the state’s public service.
Mr Bode Agoro, the Head of Service for Lagos State, made the announcement on Tuesday in Lagos.
Agoro spoke at a public awareness campaign on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for state public personnel organized by the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC).
The HoS applauded Sanwo-Olu for his ongoing efforts to ensure that older individuals receive their retirement benefits as soon as they leave the service.
He also complimented the governor for prioritizing the well-being of public employees and pensioners.
He said the CPS, which was passed into law on March 19, 2007 in Lagos, was to provide a sustainable retirement plan that ensures financial security upon staff retirement from active service.
“Since its introduction, a lot of government policies have been made to strengthen the Nigerian pension industry, provide security for citizens’ savings, well as protect workers’ retirement benefits.
“However, all these policies have come with the need to align ourselves, as workers, with the evolvement of the scheme.
“Knowledge, they say is power, and information is key. Therefore, a man without the right information will no doubt be deformed,” he said.
According to him, the need to avoid misinformation regarding the CPS led to the sensitisation organised by LASPEC to disseminate vital information about important updates and changes to the CPS as they affect stakeholders.
The HoS added that the state had continually embarked on a data updating exercise, occasioned by linking the National Identification Number (NIN) to all of the existing accounts, be they in banks, telecommunication service providers, or others.
He noted that it was imperative to recapture the data with the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to ease documentation, facilitate processing, and smooth pension payments upon retirement.
According to him, for those who just had their service documents regularised or changed locations or names, the exercise was poised to provide them with fresh opportunities to register such changes with their PFAs.
He said: “Considering the different development that public servants might have experienced over the years, this exercise will be made periodic to allow you register such development with your PFAs.
“This is to enable updated information that will ease processing of your retirement benefits by LASPEC as well as the PFAs.
“As partners in progress, our PFAs will be made available at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium at Alausa, Ikeja, for four days as scheduled in our circular, to attend to your proper documentation.”
He urged the workers to pay attention to the vital information concerning the pension scheme.
“Let me reiterate that this exercise is not aimed at stressing anybody, however, it is an avenue to ease the process of receiving your retirement benefits as soon as you exit the services,” he said.
