The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has assured that the Federal Government will soon begin payment of the pension backlog.

Edun gave this assurance on Tuesday in Abuja during a peaceful rally by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector, NUPCPS, at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

“We will start next week to pay everything that we can under the current budget as approved by the National Assembly.

“What has happened now is that there is a backlog in terms of contributions and there is a solution.

“There has been a committee under the Office of the Head Of Service which has met the minister of budget, and I. We have a plan for dealing with the backlog under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

“We are committed to paying it. It has to be paid this year. We are committed to doing that starting from next week,” Edun said.

He emphasized the Federal Government’s commitment to pensioners welfare.

Speaking earlier during the protest, the National Chairman of NUPCPS, Mr Sylva Nwaiwu, said CPS had never benefited from any increment of the National Minimum Wage Act.

Nwaiwu said that the Federal Government had not released accrued rights for pensioners for over 20 months (since March 2023 till date).

“Our senior citizens are suffering, after using our youthful years to serve our father land and we get this in return.

”Please use your good office to help us. Some of our members are bedridden and some have died in the struggle.

“We cannot feed ourselves, take care of our family or take care of our medical bills anymore,” he said.

Nigerian Govt to commence payment of pension backlog – Finance Minister Edun