By Seun Adams
The Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Tuesday Tolulope Odunaiya, has announced a policy review of the I Am Alive confirmation solution by introducing a Mobile ‘I Am alive’ confirmation to support pensioners who could not validate their life status using either facial or fingerprint due to disabilities and/or health challenges.
The ES reinforces that pensioners who are unable to validate status of life using either the facial or fingerprint due to disabilities and/or health challenges, should apply to PTAD for a Mobile “I Am Alive” confirmation’’.
She said the application would be done by filling an online form made available on the PTAD website, including the following attachments: Pictures/video of pensioner, Medical Report and Pensioner Verification Slip.
The Directorate Communications Manager, Mr. Olugbenga Ajayi, in a statement made available to the media on Tuesday, quoted the ES as explaining that upon application approval by the appropriate signatory, a Mobile “I Am Alive” confirmation will be carried out by a scheduled visit to the pensioners’ address. \
According to her, where a scheduled visit to the pensioners’ address is not feasible, a Video conference call with the pensioner can be carried out. However, for Diaspora pensioners who are unverified and on payroll, a Certificate of Aliveness from the Nigerian Embassy or Nigerian High Commission in the country of residence should be submitted by the pensioner every 6 months as a form of validating status of life.
The ES stated that the Directorate does not charge Pensioners’ fees for its services. “It is absolute free” she said. Therefore, under no circumstance will a ‘fee for service’ be charged to pensioners directly or indirectly for the use of the application to confirm to the status of their aliveness.
She directed all service support staff to show empathy with pensioners when assisting them with the application, bearing in mind that most are not technology savvy and will need to be guided carefully and gently. She maintained that state offices shall not operate as Agent centers. I.e. they will not provide Office- based I Am Alive confirmation services to walk- in pensioners using fingerprint scanners.
“They must be scheduled from HQ and make themselves available on the agreed dates to complete the process. Thus, the state officers will only give guidance, take inquiries, resolve complaints, and document complaints they need to escalate to the Headquarters.
“The Executive Secretary enjoined the Unions and Pension Desk officers to act as intermediaries or focal officers between the Directorate and its pensioners as necessary for first line enquiries and complaints resolution, provision of grassroots advocacy and support to facilitate adoption and transmission, translation of the ‘I Am Alive’ confirmation service guidelines as appropriate through their networks and administrative structures and ccontinuous notification to their members of their due dates for confirmation of their aliveness.” She said.
She further urged them on the Implementation of Know-Your-pensioners (KYP)
activities that will assist PTAD with obtaining credible information on pensioners for better service support, assist pensioners to understand the processes and regularity of performing the I Am Alive Confirmation, sending of complaints to the Directorate on behalf of other pensioners, providing feedback on PTAD’s policy initiatives including the I Am Alive Confirmation solution to ensure improvement in service delivery, Odunaiya reminded all pensioners to confirm their aliveness on PTAD “I Am alive” confirmation platform once every six (6) months or as determined by management from time to time for them to continue to enjoy their monthly pension.
She emphasized that pensioners who fail to confirm their ‘I Am Alive’ status at least once every six (6) months (OR as determined by management from time to time) will be dropped from the payroll and moved to the “Likely deceased pool” until such dropped Pensioners re confirmed his/her aliveness to be reinstated to the payroll.
