PTAD disburses N3.8 billion arrears to 30,356 pensioners under Defined Benefit Scheme

 

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate has disbursed N3,817,568,592.80 in pension arrears to 30,356 pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

PTAD’s Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He revealed that the disbursements cover beneficiaries across three pension departments following a back-end computation review exercise.

What PTAD is saying

Ajayi said the payment covers pensioners under the Parastatals Pension Department, the Defunct and Transferred Agencies Pension Department, and the Tertiary, Education and Health Pension Department.

• He said the disbursement represents accrued arrears identified during PTAD’s Back-End Computation Review Exercise, which the directorate conducted to address complaints relating to pension computations and resolve outstanding entitlements owed to Defined Benefit Scheme pensioners
• Ajayi quoted the PTAD Executive Secretary Tolulope Odunaiya as commending the affected pensioners for their cooperation throughout the review process. She also reaffirmed the directorate’s commitment to timely, transparent, and accountable payment of verified pension entitlements.
• She said the payment reflected President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to addressing pension-related issues and strengthening pension administration under the Defined Benefit Scheme.

Ajayi also said the disbursement demonstrates PTAD’s sustained commitment to addressing verified outstanding obligations and improving the welfare of DBS pensioners under its mandate.

Get up to speed

The latest disbursement comes as the Federal Government continues efforts to address outstanding pension obligations and improve the welfare of pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

• In August 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved a series of measures to improve the welfare of DBS pensioners, including an extra-budgetary allocation to implement new pension rates, the proposed pension harmonisation policy for inclusion in the 2026 budget, and health insurance coverage for all DBS pensioners.
• In April 2026, PTAD also announced the payment of the final one-month arrears of the N32,000 pension increment to eligible DBS pensioners, completing outstanding payments linked to the increase approved by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, effective July 29, 2024.
• In June, PTAD disclosed the disbursement of N8.6 billion in pension arrears to 148,625 DBS pensioners across the Police, Civil Service, Parastatals, Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Departments.

PTAD said the payment formed part of the N32,000 pension increment approved by President Tinubu, following the earlier settlement of arrears from the 20% to 28% pension increase that took effect in January 2024

What you should know

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has clarified that the proposed increase in pension contribution rates under the ongoing review of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 will apply only to employers and not employees.

Oloworaran made the clarification while responding to a video commentary by Nairametrics founder and CEO, Ugochukwu Obi-Chukwu, on the proposed change

The clarification came a day after PenCom announced plans to increase statutory pension contribution rates as part of efforts to strengthen retirement security and improve the sustainability of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).