Workers due to retire from the Lagos State Public Service between July, 2017 and December, at the event.
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Chuks Udo Okonta
Lagos State government has paid the approximate sum of N62 billion into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) of about 13,000 retirees since the commencement of the payment of entitlements in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola, Benson Oke, has said.
He disclosed this today in Lagos at the 12th Retirement Benefits Documentation Seminar organised by the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) for employees who are due to retire from the State Public Service between July, 2017 and December, 2017. He added that Lagos State remains the only state in the federation that is up to date in its monthly remittances into serving employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts.
“The Retirement Benefit Documentation Seminar comes up bi-annually and this being the 12th in the series shows that it is a tradition which has come to stay and its importance cannot be underestimated. This seminar is put together for the core civil servants and other employees in the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), Teachers’ Establishment & Pensions Office (TEPO), Government Parastatalsand Local Government Staff, who will be retiring from the State’s Public Service between July and December, 2017,” he said.
Dr Oke said many employers of labour and indeed, many State Governments do not see the need to prepare their employees for a new life, stressing that Governor Ambode’s administration, however, is a people-oriented one and has resolved that everyone who has worked diligently for the state has to be recognised, paid his/her dues and assisted to prepare for future challenges.
He told the workers that while the change they would soon experience may bring daunting challenges, that they really have nothing to be anxious about, adding that in the first place, they have the advantage of having served an organisation that has made adequate arrangements for their future in retirement, and that in the last 22 months alone, the Lagos State Government has paid accrued pension rights of approximately N28 billion into the Retirement Savings Account of 6,509 retirees.
Mrs Onanuga
The Director-General Of LASPEC, Mrs Folashade Onanuga, the seminar was organised to educate intending retirees, firstly on documentation to provide, steps to take and areas where they need to pay attention to, to aid prompt processing of their entitlements.
“One of those areas is on the issue of your Retirement Savings Account and the need for you to pay close attention to its contents. Some of you have 0 balances in your Retirement Savings Account. In some cases, there are missing month’s contributions.
“All these are issues which in your best interest you must resolve before you eventually retire. Secondly, the program me is designed to give advisory services to you on matters as it relates to managing your health in retirement, managing your finances, the importance of Will Writing and also throw light on the need for you to have a safety nest no matter how small which you can fall back on before your terminal entitlements are paid,” she said.
She maintained that Lagos state is the only state that put those that are about to retire together to teach them on what to do, stressing that the state is the only state that ensures that retirees have sweet rest in retirement.
