By Joy Odor Reportcircle Abuja
In a rare, no-holds-barred exposure of Nigeria’s most misunderstood financial obligation, the Director of the Defunct and Transferred Agencies Department, Jibrin Idris on Thursday tore through years of confusion, suspicion and misinformation surrounding pension arrears and gratuity payments, declaring that “ignorance not policy is the biggest enemy of Nigerian pensioners.
Presenting a hard-hitting technical paper titled “Payment of Pension Arrears and Gratuities: Facts vs Public Perceptions (Understanding Pension Computation and Payment Under DBS), at the training workshop for Association of Corporate Online Editors Online (ACOE) and Pension Correspondents, the Director pulled back the curtain on how pensions are truly calculated, who qualifies, who doesn’t and why thousands of retirees often feel short-changed.
From the opening minutes of the presentation, it was clear the session was not routine.
Jibrin framed the pension debate as a battle between verified data and street-level assumptions.
“We must separate emotion from entitlement,” he said, setting the tone for a detailed dissection of the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), the system governing retirees of defunct and transferred federal agencies.
One of the most explosive revelations centred on eligibility. Under the DBS framework, years of service remain the ultimate gatekeeper.
Contrary to popular belief, not every retired worker qualifies automatically for pension under the old scheme.
According to the Director, officers who exited service before reaching the minimum service years typically 10 to 15 years, depending on period of employment do not qualify for full pension benefits, regardless of age.
“If you served nine years, eleven months, you still fall short,” he said bluntly, triggering murmurs across the hall.
He further clarified that some workers who left service between 1992 and 2007 fall into transitional gray zones, where entitlement depends strictly on verifiable records, not sentiment or public pressure.
The Director dismantled another long-held belief: that pensions are short-term benefits.
“Pension is a lifelong income stream,” he stated. “Once properly established, it follows you for life.” However, he was quick to stress that lifelong benefit only applies to those who meet statutory conditions.
Jibrin also addressed survivor benefits, explaining that under earlier pension rules, spouses and eligible children of deceased officers are entitled to specific portions of benefits an area often shrouded in confusion and legal disputes.
In one of the most practical segments of the presentation, the Director exposed how allowances distort public expectations. Many workers, he explained, wrongly assume that all their earnings including transport, utility, responsibility and other allowances translate into pensionable income.
“They do not,” he said flatly. Only core salary and approved pensionable components are used in pension computation. “Once you retire, most of those allowances die instantly. That is the shock many people were never prepared for.”
Moving into the technical core, Jibrin walked participants step-by-step through the actual pension computation formula.
Using the approved percentage factors under the 1990 pension framework, he explained how years of service influence the final pension payout.
Ten years of service attracts a specific percentage factor. Fifteen years attracts a higher one. Beyond that, incremental adjustments apply but always within statutory limits. “This is not guesswork. It is pure mathematics backed by law,” he emphasized.
He also revealed that post-retirement pension increases depend on approved government adjustments and verified records not political pressure or social campaigns.
On the controversial issue of unpaid arrears, the Director pointed squarely at record gaps, agency liquidation lapses and inherited payroll chaos from defunct agencies.
Many files, he said, arrived without proper documentation, leaving the government with no legal basis to process payments until verification is complete.
“The government does not pay blindly,” he warned. “Every kobo must be traceable.”
Independent audits, he disclosed, had already invalidated several claims submitted by former workers, while confirming others as genuine.
“Some claims have merit. Some do not. The audit decides, not noise.”
In a forward-looking shift, the Director unveiled efforts to digitise the entire pension verification and payment chain.
The goal: eliminate manual bottlenecks, reduce human discretion and fast-track legitimate payments.
Under the new digital framework, pensioners can track verification stages, confirm payroll entry, and monitor arrears status in real time an innovation expected to sharply reduce the culture of endless complaints and shadow lobbying.
The most emotional moment came when the Director addressed retirees directly.
“Don’t let anyone deceive you,” he said. “If you qualify, your pension is protected by law. But if your service years fall short, no protest can replace the statute.”
Jibrin urged pensioners to rely on official channels, verified records and lawful processes, not rumor mills.
Closing his presentation, the Director framed pension reform as more than a fiscal assignment. “This is about families. This is about dignity. This is about trust in the state,” he said.
Yet his message remained firm: the system will not bend to public pressure where the law does not support entitlement.
Bottom Line:
The presentation laid bare a hard truth: Nigeria’s pension crisis is not just about unpaid money, it is also about misunderstood rules, distorted expectations, missing records and decades of institutional decay.
As reforms intensify and digitization spreads, one thing is now unmistakable, the era of pension guesses is ending, and the age of pension proof has begun.
