The House of Representatives has on Thursday, April 6, called on the executive to prioritize the payment of Pensioners to clear the huge backlog, saying no excuse will be accepted for failure to do so.

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The speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara gave the charge after the ministers of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and that of Budget and Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, briefed the House on efforts made so far to offset arrears owed to Nigerian pensioners. 

Yakubu dogara charged the government to find a lasting solution to the challenges bedeviling the contributory pensions scheme to ensure the House has no cause to intervene in future.

Speaking earlier, the minister of budget and national planning, Udoma Udoma, said the Federal Government is evolving creative measures to tackle the arrears in payment of pension benefits.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning,Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma said the Federal Government is evolving creative measures to tackle the arrears in payment of pension benefits. He said the backlog in Pension payment arose from the need to reconcile the figures emanating from the Pension Commission and PTAD.

In her remarks, the Minister of Finance, Dr Kemi Adeosun said Government has resolved to explore creative means of raising fund for Pension payment largely because of lack of adequate resource to instantly offset the amount required.

Also speaking, president of National Union of Pensioners (NUP), Dr Abel Afolayan, said Federal Government indebtedness to the Contributory Pension Scheme  is well over 280 billion naira. 

Afolayan lamented that the Federal Government has consistently under-appropriated for the Contributory Pension scheme over the past few years.