Police retirees in Akwa Ibom State have praised the federal government over the new screening procedure by the Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) which treats them with dignity during verification.
Jonah Ekpo, Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria Chairman, made the commendation in Uyo during the verification of police pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
The PTAD, an organ of the federal government, was established in 2013 to take care of pensioners who did not transit to the contributory pension scheme.
It ascertains genuine pensioners, deletes ghost names, and those left out in biometric machine capture. It has saved the federal government more than N1.2 billion.
Ekpo said the exercise has been fast and smooth, with the PTAD recording success stories for police retirees in the past one year.
“This is the first time police verification is done the way it should be done. I retired in 1991 and for the 24 years that I have been attending this exercise, this is the first time canopies and chairs are provided for us to sit and we are even served food and water to drink,” he added.
He disclosed that over 500 people out of the expected 700 were attended to during the four-day exercise.
A lawyer, Victor Abia, who retired as Chief Superintendent of Police in 2004, said “I had attended verification exercises for about three times before now, it used to be difficult and un-interesting exercise.
“It used to be tiring and people used to stand for hours without adequate attention. People used to faint during this exercise, but now we are given seats and even water and food to eat.
“This has transformed the exercise. Staff of the PTAD are friendly to us, I plead the status-quo be sustained.”
However, some retirees appealed to Abuja to decentralise the exercise to make it easy for pensioners to participate.
Decentralisation would help reduce the risk of travelling long distances for the exercise.
PTAD Corporate Communications Director, Steve Omanufeme, confirmed that the verification is now going on in the South South and South East to harmonise the pension scheme for effective management.
The PTAD plans to open offices in all states of the federation.