Nigeria Needs N73.09bn To Pay 2016 Retirees, Deceased Employees- PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that a total of N73.09 billion is required to pay the accrued right of Federal Government’s workers who retired between January to December, 2016 and deceased employees within same period.

This was disclosed in the memorandum submitted by Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, the Director General of the Commission,  to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Appropriations at the budget defence session on the 2017 budget estimates for appropriation yesterday.

The Commission said based on the number of verified and enrolled Federal Government employees that retired from January to December in 2016 under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as well as deceased employees within 2016, it requested for the provision of the sum of N91.92 billion in the 2016 Appropriation Bill but N50.20 billion was approved, resulting in a shortfall of N41.72 billion

PenCom disclosed that out of the N50.20 billion appropriated for the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund (RBBRF) Account in the 2016 Appropriation Act, only N18.82 billion had so far been released into the RBBRF Account, without an outstanding balance of N31.37 billion yet to be released for 2016.

Anohu-Amazu said based on the number of verified and enrolled employees that will retire from January to December in 2017 under the CPS, PenCom determined and requested for the provision of N113.02 billion in the 2017 FGN Appropriation Bill but the Federal Government submitted only the sum of N50.20 billion in the 2017 Appropriation Bill, thereby resulting in a shortfall of N62.83 billion.

She said: “The most critical challenge of the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in Nigeria today is the non-payment of retirement benefits of Federal Government employees who retired in 2016 due to insufficient appropriation and late release of appropriated funds for payment of accrued pension rights.”

Daily Trust

No fewer than 48 deaths have been recorded in Baghdad following a car bomb explosion in the Shia area of al-Bayaa in the south of the city. The explosion came from a car which was filled with explosives and parked near a car dealership in Shia. This is the third blast to occur in Baghdad in three days. The first car bomb attack occurred on Tuesday in the south of Baghdad while another attack on used-car dealers happened on Wednesday, killing 18 people.

Read more at: https://dailytimes.ng/world/least-48-killed-baghdad-car-bomb-blast/