The Commissioner for Establishments, Training And Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, has said Lagos State government approved a bailout of N707.62m for some parastatals to pay the pensions of their retirees.

She disclosed the bailout of the parastatals that could not raise the funds at the 98th batch retirement bond certificate presentation ceremony in Lagos on Friday.

“In line with his administration’s vision to cater to its employees even in retirement, Mr Governor also recently approved the appeal for a bailout by six parastatals in the state and has paid a total sum of N707.62m only to 614 retirees and employees in batch one,” she said.

She also disclosed that Lagos has paid accrued pension rights of N47.05bn to 12,642 retirees from May 2019 till date.

The Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mr Babalola Obilana, said since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme in Nigeria, Lagos State had remained focused and resolute to the ideals of the scheme.

He said the state had consistently prioritised pension contributions in the annual state budget and does not owe monthly pension contributions.

Both employee and employer’s contributions were remitted promptly into individual employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts after salaries were received, he said.

He said Lagos in line with its role as the regulatory body for pension matters in the state was constantly reviewing its business processes to ensure the financial well-being of public service retirees.

The director-general said, “This year, the commission inspected all Pension Fund Administrators and Annuity Service Providers registered by the State Government to ensure their compliance to the CPS.

We also concluded the review of the Lagos State Pension Law to ensure your retirement obligations are adequately protected.

“From January 2022 till date, the State Government has paid a total sum of N11.4bn only into the Retirement Savings Accounts of 3,481 retirees.”

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