The Federal Government spent a total of N292.38bn on pension and gratuities of its retirees in the 2019 financial year.
The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its report on ‘Monthly FGN finances’, which was recently released.

According to the report obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, the Federal Government spent N24.56bn monthly from January to June, amounting to N147.36bn.

It spent N24.17bn monthly from July and December, amounting to N145.02bn.

In a related development, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate said in a statement on its website on Friday that it had paid the third batch of 50 NAHCO ex- workers their of one-off payment of their outstanding entitlements.

The PTAD had earlier said that the Federal Government was ready to pay verified ex-workers and next of kin of NAHCO, in line with the takeover approval of pension-related matters of some agencies, privatised/liquidated by the Bureau of Public Enterprises in 2017, including NAHCO.

The PTAD is an agency of the Federal Government.

It is made up of the Civil Service Pension Department; the Police Pension Department; the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department; the Treasury Funded Parastatals Pension Department; and the Pensioner Support Services Department.

In accordance with another Act of the National Assembly, the Military Pension Department and the Security Agencies Pension Department were exempted from the consolidation and management of the PTAD.

PUNCH