By Victor Ahiuma-Young
THE Lagos State Government has announced the release of over N2 billion to off-set its pensioners’ obligation under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, in the last three months.
Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, LASPEC, Mrs Folashade Onanuga, said the amount represented pension monies released for the months of May, June and July.
According to her, N859 million was released for the retirees in May, N716.951 million in June and N466.85 million in July, totalling N2.042.86 billion.
She said N38 billion had so far been released to 9,214 retirees as at this June since Governor Akinwunmi Ambode came to power in 2015.
Onanuga in a statement informed that over N40 million was also paid as insurance benefits to 15 beneficiaries of deceased employees.
She said, however, that the state employees were expected to open a Retirement Savings Account, RSA, with one of the state’s approved 13 Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs.
According to her: “Governor Ambode is fully committed to retirees’ welfare and he is working towards clearing accrued pension backlogs the administration inherited under the old pension scheme, known as Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS.
Retirees that retired solely under Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, for one reason or the other collected their gratuities upon retirement with steady monthly pension payments, because the pension funds under CPS is intact.”
