The Kaduna state Pensions Bureau has said that it would study the Jigawa pension scheme model with a view to improving its own contributory pension scheme.
The Executive Secretary of the bureau, Prof. Salamatu Idris, made this known on Friday, when she led a delegation from the state to the office of the Jigawa state Head of the Service, Alhaji Hussaini Kili on a study tour.
Idris said that the tour was to enable the bureau study and understand the pension scheme model being implemented by Jigawa state.
“We are here to learn from the Jigawa pension scheme model. This is coming after we did a lot of research about it.
“Now, we have come to have a one-to-one interaction, with a view to learn more about it and possibly borrow a leaf from it,” Idris said.
This, she noted, would enable the bureau to either modify, make more efficient or continue with its model.
Responding, Kila, who welcomed the delegation, said the scheme was initiated in 2001, going side-by-side with the public service pensions system.
He explained that under the arrangement, civil servants in the state contribute 8 per cent of their monthly basic salary, while the state government contributes 17 per cent, making a total of 25 per cent.
The head of service added that all staff from the State, Local Government Councils and Local Education Authorities (LEAs), were captured before their retirement period, by the Directorate for Salary and Pension Administration.
He further explained that, the Directorate was one of the agencies responsible for the preparation of payroll, screening, and authentication of retirees and death benefits of workers through the use of an electronic system.
Also, Alhaji Kamilu Aliyu, the Executive Secretary, Jigawa State and Local Governments Contributory Pension Scheme Board, explained that the board had appointed 10 Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), as contained in the National Pension Commission (PenCom) guidelines.
Aliyu noted that the state also adopted the use of the Defined Benefit Scheme, (DBS), instead of the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA), which makes it easy for any retiree or family of deceased workers to have access to their retirement or death benefit without any hitch.
He added that the board has had no record of ghost pensioners since its inception.
“And this is as a result of measures taken by the board to curtail activities of commission agents, touts and fraudulent activities among staff of the board,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the delegation, which also visited the Directorate of Salary and Pension Administration, was later briefed about the activities of the board, by its trustee Chairman, Alhaji Abdulaziz Abdulhamid.
