Bayelsa State Government in conjunction with the local government councils has ratified a working document known as the Retirement and Transition Process for New Pensioners in the local governments of the state.
The document, which will serve as the new template for local government pension administration was adopted shortly after its presentation by the Hon Tariye Lelei-led Committee on the Review of Retirement Process for Workers in the Bayelsa Local Government System at a meeting in Yenagoa.
The motion for the adoption of the document was moved by the Chairman of Ekeremor Local Government Area, Hon Isaac Oniye, and seconded by the Coordinator of Pensioners in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Chief Kingsway Kwokwo.
Receiving the report on Thursday on behalf of the state government during the meeting in his office in Government House, Yenagoa, the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, commended the committee for doing a good job in record time.
The Deputy Governor, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, at the weekend, expressed optimism that the new template would help to eliminate the difficulties and protracted time involved in processing pension documents of retired local government staff.
The statement quoted Senator Ewhrudjakpo, as lamenting that many retired local government workers had died without receiving their gratuities while undergoing the rigorous and time-consuming post-retirement documentation processes.
He, however, noted that the new pension documentation template would facilitate the completion of the process within a short period of time and ensure seamless payment of retirees’ gratuities and pension allowances.
To this end, the Deputy Governor directed the Local Government Pensions Board to produce the modified retirement forms and distribute same to all the Councils.
He also charged the coordinators of local government pensioners to intensify their mobilization effort to enable retirees who were yet to receive the last tranche of gratuities and death benefits, get theirs on or before the end of next month.
His words: “Let me thank the Chairman and members of the review committee for doing a good job within the time given to you. I think the state committee has a lot to learn from you.
“I’m happy with what you have done because it will stop the practice of making our retired workers to embark on repeated visits to the pension office and appearing before officials to get through with their documentations.
“That, as far as I’m concerned, is unnecessary because all the retirees’ documents are at the disposal of the appropriate government authorities.
Presenting the report on behalf of the 16-member Review Committee, Mr Joel Ahoada, said the committee, among its findings, identified multiple physical verification of documents, lackadaisical work attitude by most desk officers in charge of pensioners’ files and unnecessary demands by such officers as some of the challenges facing retiring workers.
Consequently, the Committee recommended that the current electronic document management system (EDMS) in Soft-suite should be updated with all the relevant documents of retiring officers to avoid manual submission of documents for pension purposes.
It also recommended that the Gen. 74 Pension Form should be automated and generated from the Soft-suite application to eliminate the burden of retiring officers being subjected to pension desk officers at the various ministries, departments and agencies.
According to Mr Ahoada, the new template makes it mandatory for retiring staff to be transited to the pension platform and payroll within 30 days of retirement, which he noted would help to check the issues of double salary payment and accumulation of pension arrears.
About Author
