BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE
THE Lagos State Government paid over N4.2 billion to pensioners in the state between May 2019 and March 2021.
The payment was made under the Defined Benefits Scheme, otherwise known as Pay As You Go.
Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pension, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, disclosed this during the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing to commemorate the Second Year anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
She said the Governor had also approved the payment of 33 per cent increment for all state pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme.
Ponle noted that the Government also paid the balance of 25 per cent rent allowance for officers on Grade Level 07 and above, who retired between May 2000 and August 2004.
The Commissioner said, “There are currently 15 approved Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, and seven approved insurance companies who render pension funds management and annuities services to retirees in the state.
“Today, Lagos State is a trailblazer and pacesetter in pension matters in Nigeria, having won awards as the most pension-compliant in this dispensation, on several occasions.”
She said, as a policy, the ministry had always been interfacing with relevant stakeholders such as the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, among others, as part of measures to improve the lives of pensioners in the state.
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners had, at its 11th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference, honoured Governor Sanwo-Olu.
“The governor was honoured with the distinguished award of Excellence and Greater Commitment to Pensioner’s Welfare. That means we are doing something right. When the second phase of the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the country in 2020, the state recommended vaccines for pensioners who were over 70 years in age,” she said.
