The Federal Government of Nigeria says it has released a total of 54 billion naira for the payment of pensioners. This news comes as a boost to the contributory pension scheme which has seen an inconsistency in remittances from the federal government to the Retirement Savings Account (RSA).

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this on her Facebook page, said 41.5 billion naira was released to the National Pension commission (PENCOM) to clear outstanding pension benefits covering 2014, 2015 and 2016 while another 12.5 billion naira was also released to cover outstanding payments for January, February and March 2017.

“Despite conflicting demands for available cash, President Muhammadu Buhari has always expressed concern about the plight of workers and pensioners. These payments will bring relief to thousands of our elders who have served and deserve to be paid their entitlement promptly and in full,” Adeosun said.

She said that with these payments, the federal government has cleared the contributory pension scheme arrears that the Buhari administration inherited from the past administration. To avoid fresh accumulation of arrears, She disclosed that the government will henceforth make available monthly allocations to National Pension Commission (PENCOM) alongside monthly salaries to Ministries and Agencies.