PIC.3.PHCN HEADQUARTERS IN ABUJA BEING GUIDED BY SECURITY OPERATIVES AS THE STAFF EMBARKS ON STRIKE ON TUESDAY (15/11/11)
Former workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) will have to wait until January 1, 2027, for any new pension adjustment, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission has announced.
The commission disclosed that the delay follows a review of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) records that changed the date the retirees were last adjusted, removing them from two recent increases that had earlier been approved for them.
According to the commission, the ex-PHCN retirees were first listed to benefit from the 10.66 per cent and 12.5 per cent pension increases with effect from January 1, 2015, and January 1, 2020, respectively. That was based on PTAD’s initial information that their last adjustment happened in 2010.
But after further checks with PTAD, the commission found a different timeline.
“After some engagement with the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, it was noted that the ex-PHCN retirees who were captured as beneficiaries of the 10.66 per cent and 12.5 per cent pension increase with effect from 1st January 2015 and 1st January 2020 respectively based on the assertion by PTAD that they had the last increase in 2010, actually had their last pension increase with effect from 1st June 2016,” the commission stated in a letter signed by the Head of Pension Management on behalf of the Acting Secretary.
Because of that discovery, the agency said the retirees no longer qualified for those earlier adjustments.
“Based on that discovery, the ex-PHCN retirees were excised from benefiting from the pension increase conveyed by our letter in 2024,” it added.
The retirees had complained that they were left out of several reviews for federal pensioners, including the 10.66 per cent, 12.5 per cent, 20 per cent and 28 per cent increases. They said the gap has made it harder to cope with inflation and rising costs.
