The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) says it has paid more than ₦1 trillion in monthly pensions to retirees under the Federal Government’s Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) since assuming full management of the system in 2015.
The Director of Corporate Services at PTAD, Mr. Kabiru Yusuf, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday while presenting a paper at a training workshop for pension correspondents and online editors.
He said the directorate had “paid a total of about ₦1.002tn as monthly pension to an average of 212,385 pensioners from the time of DBS take-over in 2015 to October 2025,” adding that the milestone reflects PTAD’s mandate “to restore order, integrity, and dignity to the legacy pension system.”
Mr. Yusuf noted that PTAD inherited deep structural problems, including years of unresolved complaints, ghost beneficiaries, and weak financial controls. Upon assuming responsibility for the scheme, the agency discovered about 55,000 pending complaints, including more than 30,000 eligible pensioners who were not on the payroll and over 10,000 outstanding death benefit requests.
To address these challenges, he said the agency rebuilt its operations around technology, automation, and strict verification processes. Innovations include a digitiseddatabase of pensioners, automated computation tools, a centralised payroll manager, mobile verification for aged or infirm pensioners, and a dedicated complaints management portal.
He added that PTAD had reduced inherited pension liabilities from about ₦304 billion to roughly ₦103.5 billion as of September 2025, supported by sustained government funding.
The agency has also secured presidential approvals to improve pensioners’ welfare, including National Health Insurance Authority coverage for all DBS retirees and harmonisation of pensions to reflect updated salary structures. According to him, approvals were also granted for emergency funding of ₦45 billion to implement various pension increments.
The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Mrs. Tolulope Odunaiya—represented at the event by Mr. Yusuf—said the training was aimed at equipping journalists with a clearer understanding of the agency’s mandate and reforms. She said media reportage had helped shape public awareness of pension administration and remained essential to sustaining accountability in the system.
Mrs. Odunaiya stressed that PTAD remains committed to building a pension system “anchored on fairness, legality, and compassion,” adding that pensioners deserve service delivery that upholds their dignity after decades in public service.
