The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said that since the state adopted the new pension scheme, it has paid a total of N18.03bn to retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
He said this during the presentation of the eight retirement bond certificates to the states’ pensioners in Lagos on Tuesday.
Fashola said, “With today’s retirement bond presentation, Lagos State government has been able to pay a total sum of N18.03bn, being the accrued pension rights made up of gratuity and pension benefits for entitlements under the old scheme, into the Retirement Savings Account of a total number of 3,304 retirees who retired from the public service of Lagos State from inception of the CPS.”
The governor said this was a fulfilment of the promise of worthy living for its people, not only in the provision of social amenities and infrastructure but in the payment of retirement benefits to public servants as and when due.
He said the state commenced the payment of retirement benefits under the CPS in October 2010 and had been committed to quarterly payment of the retirees’ dues.
Fashola observed that since inception of the new scheme, there had been an improvement in the lives of retirees, affording them the peace of mind that should come with a fruitful retirement, a relief from past experience, which subjected pensioners in old scheme to hardship.
He said, “Our experience since we began this new scheme indicates that all our retirees are currently enjoying their lives in retirement.”
According to him, there is a clear difference between the CPS and the old Pay As You Go systems.
In fulfilment of its commitment to make the scheme effective, he said, the state made sure that the 7.5 per cent contributions of the state government and the 7.5 per cent deductions from the employees’ salaries were forwarded to the nominated Pension Fund Administrators.
Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mr. Adekunle Hussain, said the state presented retirement bond certificates worth N3.5bn to 780 retirees during the eighth presentation ceremony.
He said that since inception of LASPEC, its watchword had been total commitment to the service of ensuring better and fulfiling retirement life for the employees of the state.
For this reason, he added that LASPEC that had worked assiduously towards the fulfillment of its mission statement which was, “to provide exceptional services on pension matters to employees in the Lagos State Public Service, deploying world-class technology and utilising well-motivated workers to ensure financial freedom for Lagos State retiree.”