40,000 pensioners denied monthly benefits -NUP

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.