Senate to probe PFAs over unpaid pension entitlements

The Senate yesterday instructed its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to probe the activities of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) over unpaid pensions.

This followed a motion during plenary by Senator Kelvin Chukwu (LP, Enugu).

Chukwu said undue delays in the payment of pensions, gratuities, and other entitlements, caused distress and agony to retirees.

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

“With some even perishing in queues of prolonged and never-ending verification exercises that yield little or no result whatsoever.

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

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

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