Verification snag stalls NSITF pension rise  as mgt begs retirees for patience

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

Abuja: Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, has appealed to its pensioners to exercise patience over the delay in implementing an approved increase in their pensions, blaming the hitch on an ongoing verification exercise.

At a weekend meeting with the NSITF Pensioners’ Executive Committee at the Fund’s corporate headquarters in Abuja, the Executive Director of Finance, Samuel Olufemi, who represented Managing Director Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye, assured retirees that the management was determined to resolve the issue.

“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,” Olufemi said.

He explained that the Fund needed to properly verify pensioners to ensure accurate records and avoid leakages in the system. According to him, some beneficiaries on the payroll are approaching 100 years old, and previous verification exercises had been costly and cumbersome, often requiring officials to visit many locations because some pensioners were too frail to travel.

“Past verifications were capital intensive, and many pensioners could not come forward, claiming they were unable to leave their homes. We are working on a better, more cost-effective system to complete the exercise,” Olufemi added.

During the meeting, the pensioners’ representatives, led by Chairman Aliyu Danlami, tabled several demands, including immediate implementation of the pension increment, enforcement of a court judgment on their benefits, enrolment of retirees in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and revival of the Pension Fund Board of Trustees.

Olufemi, however, assured the retirees that they would not be shortchanged once the verification is completed.

“The MD is a visionary person. Staff welfare is very critical to him, and that includes ex-staff,” he said.

Danlami commended the Faleye-led management for the ongoing transformation in the Fund and urged swift action to address pensioners’ concerns.

The NSITF reiterated its commitment to transparency and accountability in handling pension payments, saying the verification exercise was designed to protect retirees’ interests and ensure that only legitimate beneficiaries enjoy the pension increase once it takes effect.

The post Verification snag stalls NSITF pension rise  as mgt begs retirees for patience appeared first on Vanguard News.