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PTAD lauds Impact of Technology in Pension Verification
Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) says the deployment of technology has made pension verification seamless.
Few years ago, when PTAD was still doing manual verification of retirees many of them were dying in the process.
PTAD deployed 45 functional laptops, 20 scanners, 20 webcam cameras, 20 thumb-print capturing machines and five printers.
Ikeazor made this known to newsmen when he officially declared open the verification NITEL and MTEL pensioners in Enugu on Wednesday.
She said the directorate was fully automated, adding that PTAD staff had been well-schooled and vast on how to operate the new devices.
“As I speak to you, we have our internet server here and all its necessary attachment to ensure seamless exercise and to key- in information instantly.
“The directorate had over the years invested heavily on modern technology that will make our work and service to the people very seamless and real-time,’’ she said.
The executive secretary said that through the help of technology PTAD was now doing mobile verification for sick and incapacitated pensioners.
“We have collected the phone numbers of sick pensioners and their contacts; and our staff will do mobile verification for them by going to where they are to capture them electronically,’’ she said.
Sharing his experience, one of the pensioners, Mr Emeka Offor said that it only took him less than 10 minutes for his name and vital information; his picture and thumb-print captured and scanning of his document to be captured.
“I must commend President Muhammadu Buhari for his care for pensioners and equipping PTAD with modern gadgets to function optimally,’’ he said.
PTAD is verifying 22,000 pensioners of NITEL and MTEL in seven centres across the nationwide and at each of the centre, it will take eight days to conduct the exercise.
Nigeria has launched an emergency response centre after recording 190 deaths from Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic illness, according to Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
The disease, mainly transmitted to humans via contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or excrement, has infected 1,154 people in six Nigerian states.
Jide Idris, head, Nigerian Center for Disease Control, said the agency’s risk assessment has categorized it as high, prompting the activation of the emergency Operations Centre to manage the outbreak.
“While the disease occurs throughout the year, peak transmission typically happens between October and May, coinciding with the dry season when human exposure to rodents increases,” he said at a press briefing in Abuja.
The centre will ensure seamless coordination of the control and management of the outbreak.
Symptoms of the virus – which can also be passed between people through bodily fluids of those infected – include fever, headaches and, in the most severe cases, death.
The World Health Organization classifies Lassa fever as a priority disease due to its epidemic potential and lack of approved vaccines.
Federal government has proposed to spend N1.5bn for internet services for passengers at five international airports in the country.
The project, “Provision/Upgrade of WiFi Services for Passengers in Five International Airports and some Domestic Airports” was listed as a new project in the 2025 appropriation.
In some parts of the world, access to the internet via Wi-Fi at airports is regarded to be a basic human right.
Such amenities are lacking in Nigeria.
But the 2025 budget presented to the National Assembly last week by President Bola Tinubu saw the sum of N105.953,496,365 being allocated to the Ministry of Aviation.
Apart from internet access at the airports, some other capital allocations were reinstated for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
In previous budgets, three agencies of the ministry including the apex regulatory agency, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and NAMA were exempted from the annual budgetary allocation.
In addition, the federal government deducts 50 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which is against the standard and recommended practices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which recommends that the funds generated by the agencies should be reinvested into improving infrastructure and boosting aviation safety.
Fidelis Egueke, former bank manager, , has been convicted and sentenced to six months in prison by an Asaba, Delta State Chief Magistrate’s Court for defrauding a victim of $46,900.
Chief Magistrate Callistus Isioma Moeteke found Egueke guilty of a single charge brought against him by the police under case number CMA/295c/2024.
Raphael Eze, prosecutor, of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Asaba, said Egueke, a former Asaba branch manager of a tier-one bank, fraudulently obtained $46,900 by using two Certificates of Occupancy (CofOs) as collateral.
One of the land titles, however, was not his, and the other was fake.
After receiving the money, Egueke used it for personal expenses and failed to repay the victim as promised.
The prosecution argued that Egueke’s actions violated Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C21, Vol.1 Laws of Delta State, Nigeria, 2006.
Despite denying the offence, Egueke failed to present evidence of repayment during the trial.
Chief Magistrate Moeteke determined that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Egueke was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
However, the court also gave him the option to pay a fine of N350,000 in lieu of serving the prison term.
The court ordered Egueke to pay N30 million in restitution to the victim within six months of his conviction.
The charge against Egueke stated that, in 2016, he fraudulently obtained a credit facility worth $46,900 (approximately N60 million) from Chief Jude Ndudi by presenting false documents, including land titles that did not belong to him, in violation of Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law.
Egueke is also facing trial before a Lagos Federal High Court on charges related to a separate fraud case involving N179.498 million.
He is being prosecuted by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (ForceCID), Annex Alagbon-Ikoyi, Lagos.
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