The Management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has told pensioners of the Fund that verification of pensioners was the reason why the increases in pension had not been implemented.
Managing Director of the Fund, Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye, revealed this when the management team hosted the Pensioners Executive Committee at the Fund's Corporate headquarters in Abuja at the weekend.
The Executive Director Finance of the Fund, Samuel Ayodele Olufemi, who represented the Managing Director at the meeting said "The Managing Director met a lot of issues on ground upon coming to office last year, but the one that gives him sleepless nights is pension.
"He wants to do it. But he wants to do it right,” adding that the Fund had been carrying out proper verifications of pensioners.
He revealed that some pensioners who are still being paid are close to a hundred years old.
According to him, past verifications had been capital intensive and involved sending officials to numerous places.
However, he said many pensioners could not attend on claims of not being able to leave their homes."
He therefore said that the management was devising a better and cost-effective means of carrying out the verification exercise.
The pensioners' exco had tabled a list of requests going from implementation of the pension increment and court judgement on the issue, registering pensioners on the National Health Insurance Scheme, and reviving the Pension Fund Board of Trustees.
Assuring the pensioners that they would not be shortchanged, the ED Finance said "the MD is a visionary person. He is somebody to whom staff welfare is very critical. And that includes ex-staff."
The chairman of the NSITF pensioners, Aliyu Danlami, praised the Oluwaseun Faleye led-management team for the rapid transformation the Fund is presently undergoing and appealed for urgent intervention on their demands.