The Rivers State Government has commenced the implementation of the State Pension Reform Law No 4 of 2019 which was assented to May 31, 2019 by Gov Nyesom Wike.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of the State Pension Board, Ijeoma Samuel, at the one-day Stakeholders meeting held on Thursday, July 4, at the Board room, of the State Pension Board. The one-day meeting was attended by 3 senior officials from the National Pension Commission Headquarters, Abuja. Representatives of the 14 Pension Fund Administrators accredited in the State, and representatives of the Retirees Association.
The Director-General further disclosed that as part of Government’s goodwill and total commitment to drive the salient thrusts of the Pension Reform Law No 4 of 2019, Gov Wike has graciously approved payment of initial pensions to the first batch of 800 Pensioners who had completed their Biometric verifications. The 2019 Pension Reform Law which has a new commencement date of 31st May, 2019 with a three year window, implies that all employees in the State Public Service, who are to retire from service before May 31st, 2022 will exit under the Defined Benefit Scheme. Thus, this first batch of 800 Retirees are those exempted by the 2019 Pension Reform Law. The Biometric verification for the next batch of retirees exempted from the scheme is soon to commence. The Stakeholders were also informed that the 7 1\2% monthly deductions from the salary of 4,422 Staff of the State Public Service under the CPS, but who are due to retire between January 2019 and May 31st, 2022 are to be discontinued with effect from June, 2019 having been exempted by the Reform Law 2019.
The timeline for the refund of contributions made by Retires and those exempted with the accrued interest on investment was also extensively discussed at the meeting and the modalities to make the process seamless was endorsed by the National Regulators and the Pension Fund Administrators and the Pension Board.
The Director-General enjoined the Pension Fund Administrators and National Regulators to expedite action on the refund process, so that the retirees who have been out of Service from 2015 get their refunds without any further unnecessary delays.
Finally, the Director-General, on behalf of the Chairman and members of the Board, thanked His Excellency, for assenting to the Pension Reform Law No 4 of 2019, and assured him that history will reserve a special place to honour him as the People’s Governor, for implementing the Pension Reform Law No 4 of 2019.
