Senate to probe PFAs over unpaid pension entitlements

The Senate has resolved to investigate the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) over unpaid entitlements.

This followed the adoption of a motion titled: “The need to address the travails of pensioners, their next-of-kin and deceased relatives over unpaid pensions, gratuities, and other entitlements,” sponsored by Senator Kelvin Chukwu at the plenary in Abuja.

In his presentation, Chukwu lamented that undue delays in the payment of pensions, gratuities, and other entitlements have been causing suffering and trauma to retirees.

He said: “Due to bureaucratic bottlenecks and endemic corruption in the payment process, the situation has subjected many pensioners to abject penury.

“The prevailing issues include the non-payment of outstanding arrears to scores of pensioners, non-enrolment of thousands of pensioners on the pension payroll, and non-payment of death benefits to deserving Next-of-Kin.

“This is made worse by improper record-keeping, unscrupulous officials who demand different documents and call for similar verification exercises time and time again.”

The lawmaker stressed that the administration of the pension funds had been enmeshed in unprecedented corruption over the years with some public officers, institutions of government and even banks all complicit.

He warned that except pensioners received fair and prompt treatment, the country was unwittingly encouraging civil servants to be corrupt.

“This is because a career in civil service is no longer attractive especially as senior citizens are treated shabbily.

“It goes further to speak of our value system as any society that cannot treat its elderly citizens with care, respect, and dignity advertises its disregard for values,” Chukwu added.

The Senate, therefore, mandated its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to investigate the matter and report back to the lawmakers.

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