The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) says the ongoing harmonisation of pensions under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) will promote fairness, improve retirees’ welfare and strengthen confidence in the administration of legacy pensions across the country.
PTAD Executive Secretary, Tolulope Odunaiya, said the reform, approved under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is one of the most significant changes introduced since the directorate was established in 2013. She explained that the exercise goes beyond routine pension increases by recalculating benefits using the latest approved salary structures that applied before the Defined Benefit Scheme was phased out.
According to Odunaiya, the initiative is designed to eliminate longstanding disparities that left pensioners with similar ranks and years of service receiving different benefits simply because they retired at different times. She said the harmonisation exercise restores parity by ensuring pensions are determined by rank, grade level and length of service.
The PTAD boss noted that the programme covers eligible Federal Government pensioners under the Parastatals Pension Department, Defunct and Transferred Agencies Pension Department, and Treasury-Funded Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Pension Department. She added that qualified retirees whose agencies were later transferred to state governments will also benefit from the reform.
Odunaiya described the exercise as a major step towards social justice, saying it will correct historical imbalances in pension payments while providing greater financial security for thousands of retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme.
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