From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
Police pensioners have expressed satisfaction with the ongoing nationwide verification exercise by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
Some of the already verified pensioners who spoke to our correspondent at the venue of the exercise holding in Kaduna for police pensioners from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger and Kaduna states said their fate has been rekindled that their efforts is not and will not be in vain, describing the exercise as a worthy one.
Mr John Samuel Dogonyaro who commended the PTAD for the way and manner the verification exercise was being handled said, “I thank God to be alive to witness this exercise, the exercise is going on smoothly and in an orderly manner, this is the first experience ever and it is good, infact we were being fed while waiting for our documents to be verified, PTAD is doing well, I thank them” he stressed.
Mrs Helen Abubakar Dangi, a widow to one of the deceased police officer also described the exercise as impressive, in her case; she said she has almost given up until she got a call to come for the verification exercise. “My husband died in 2005 in active service” she added.
Speaking on the verification exercise, the director general of the PTAD Mrs Nellie Mayshak said the verification exercise is a pilot scheme aimed at guiding against fraudulent tendencies and series of complaints on the part of the pensioners.
She said the verification exercise for the northern zone is running simultaneously from the 8th-18th December, 2014, expressing optimism that that of the Southern zone is likely to commence in the 1st quarter of 2015.
According to her, “at the end of the exercise, data and finger prints of each pensioner would have been captured alongside their documents, this will in no small measures guide against fraud and complaints of omission or irregularities.
“We have decided to make them comfortable, we give them numbers and we feed them while waiting, so the stress they are subjected to in previous exercises is no longer there, they are happy with what we are doing and that is what it should be” she emphasised.
The verification exercise for FCT, Niger and Kaduna States is holding at the police officers mess and is expected to end on the 18th December, 2014.
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