The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has alleged that 40,000 of its members
have been denied their monthly benefits as a result of the introduction of the
biometric enrolment exercise in June 2010 and e-payment system.
The NUP President, Ali Abatcha, addressing newsmen at the National Executive
Council (NEC) meeting held on Wednesday, in Abuja , alleged that the office of
Head of Service of the Federation (HOSF) under the headship of Professor Oladapo
Afolabi was deliberately shutting out over 40,000 pensioners from receiving
their entitlements through the introduction of the biometric enrolment exercise
in June 2010 and e-payment system.
The NUP president said several complaints had been lodged by the affected
pensioners through the task force on pensions reform, seeking the relevant
authority to pay them their retirement benefits but to no avail.
He said that the problems had been further compounded by system SPECS, set up
as a task force through the HOSF to resolve the payment issues.
He said: “Stoppage or short payment of monthly pensions arising from the
introduction of e-payment in 2009 and the biometric enrolment exercise of June
2010 has grossly shortchanged thousands of pensioners who are still grappling
with the problem, despite filling several complaints forms for
rectification.
Abatcha said the NUP was worried because despite instructions by the HOSF
that complaints should be lodged through the task force, no solution had come
since the year 2000.
He disclosed that another knotty problem was the constant return of
pensioners’ names on payment schedule by banks on the grounds of wrong account
number.
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