21st November, 2018
No fewer than 9,000 Lagos State pensioners under the defined benefit scheme otherwise known as “Pay As you go” are expected to participate in this year’s biometric verification exercise organised by the Civil Service Pensions Office.
The yearly biometric verification exercise, tagged “I’M ALIVE,” which is for the category of pensioners in the old pension scheme is designed to ascertain living pensioners to eliminate ghost pensioners from government pay roll in order to block wastages and prevent fraud in pension administration in the state.
The Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke , said, “the biometric verification exercise is additional effort in pensions administration in the state that has helped eliminate impostor in pension allowance and benefit payment in the state and at the same time contributed to building a virile and accurate data base of pensioners in the state’’.
For ease of participation by the pensioners, he said government had increased the verification centres to 22 across the state.
The verification centres are; Agege Local Government Secretariat, Agbado/ Oke-Odo LCDA Secretariat, Igando /Ikotun LCDA Secretariat, Amuwo- Odofin Local Government Secretariat, Ikoyi /Obalende LCDA Secretariat, Lagos -Island Local Government Secretariat, Ijaiye/ Ojokoro LCDA Secretariat, Ikeja Local Government Secretariat, Kosofe Local Government Secretariat, Yaba LCDA Secretariat ,Mushin Local Government Secretariat.
Others are Somolu Local Government Secretariat, Oshodi /Isolo Local Government Secretariat, Surulere Local Government Secretariat, Badagry Town Hall Badagry, Ojo Local Government Secretariat, Epe Local government, Ibeju Lekki Local Government Secretariat, Ibeju Lekki Local Government Secretariat, Imota LCDA Secretariat and Vocational Training Centre, Igbogbo
The essence of increasing the centres he continued. was to ensure that pensioners go through a seamless process in enrolling in the exercise.
He added that home verification arrangement had also been put in place for those too sick to visit centres.
In view of this, he urged all affected pensioners to ensure that they participated in the exercise as anyone who failed to enroll would have his name removed from the pay roll as such would have been presumed dead.
Oke said the government of Lagos State gave premium to the welfare of this category of citizens and would not want anything that would truncate this and make life difficult for them, hence the reason for the much effort in the organisation of this exercise.
The exercise that will commence on Monday 26th of November will run through to December 14, 2018.