The Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Ms. Tolulope A. 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 Head of Corporate Communications, Olugbenga Ajayi, quoted Odunaiya as saying in a press release: “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 ‘l 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 executive secretary explained that upon application approval by the appropriate signatory, a mobile “I Am Alive” confirmation would be carried out by a scheduled visit to the pensioner’s address.
Where a scheduled visit to the pensioner’s 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 six months as a form of validating status of life.
Odunaiya stated that the directorate does not charge pensioners fees for its services, saying, “It is absolute free”.
Therefore, under no circumstance will a fee for service be charged to pensioners directly or indirectly for the use of the application to confirm the status of their aliveness, she added.
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 would need to be guided carefully and gently.
She maintained that state offices of the directorate shall not operate as agent centres, i.e. they will not provide office- based “I Am Alive” confirmation services to walk-in pensioners using fingerprint scanners.
She said: “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 continuous notification to their members of their due dates for confirmation of their aliveness.
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 months or as determined by management from time to time for them to continue to enjoy their monthly pension.
She emphasised that pensioners who fail to confirm their ‘I Am Alive’ status at least once every six 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 confirm their aliveness to be reinstated to the payroll.
