Speech Delivered by the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme at the Press Conference to Announce the Launch of the Pilot Phase of the “I Am Alive” Confirmation Project On October 12, 2021.

Esteemed Pensioners
Other Stakeholders
PTAD Management Staff
Members of the Press
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is with great honour and pleasure that I welcome you all to this press conference to announce the official launch of the Pilot Phase of the “I Am Alive” Confirmation Project.

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), at inception, embarked on massive verification exercises which took place between 2014 and 2019 across all the geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

The field verification exercises cut across all the operational departments of the Directorate, namely: The Civil Service Pension Department, The Police Pension Department, The Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department, and finally, The Parastatals Pension Department.

The aim of the verification exercises was to ascertain the eligible pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme, enrol eligible pensioners who were hitherto not on the Directorate’s Payroll, while promptly removing the unqualified.

The field verification was immensely successful and beneficial to the operations of PTAD resulting in a comprehensive and reliable database, which facilitates the process of budget preparation, accurate pension payments and the determination of outstanding pension liabilities.
A major gain of the verification exercise was the reduction of the Directorate’s payroll by almost 18% equivalent to about Fifty thousand (50,000 pensioners) as a result of removal of ineligible pensioners from the payroll.

Furthermore, over Twenty Thousand (20,000) eligible pensioners who were hitherto not on payroll were enrolled, Eighteen Thousand and Forty-Six (18,046) pensioners comprising of ex-workers of defunct and privatised agencies who had hitherto not been considered for pension were also enrolled. 312 War-Affected Police Officers granted amnesty in the year 2000 were paid their arrears and put on our payroll.

You may recall that during the course of the last field verification exercise, I assured all and sundry that the field verification exercise conducted in November 2019 would be the last time PTAD will call out Pensioners for field verification. Subsequently, to sustain the integrity and reliability of the pension database, PTAD has developed a novel concept/initiative to sustain the gains of these verification exercises and to ease the process of future validation of pensioners on our payroll.

At this juncture, I wish to officially announce the launch of the long-awaited “I Am Alive” confirmation project.

The “I AM Alive” Confirmation Solution is a web-based software designed to enable our pensioners, to easily confirm their aliveness from the comfort of their homes or neighbourhood, using either a smartphone or a computer system.

This solution takes the pensioner through a three-step confirmation process that ends with a text message response. The confirmation process consists of:

1. Identification process
a. Enter your pensioner’s number
b. Enter your bank account number

2. Take your photo (it will be validated with the existing picture in the PTAD database)

3. Perform the aliveness validation by moving your face to follow the moving object on the screen.
Kindly note that Pensioners’ BVN, ATM Card details and ATM Card PIN ARE NOT REQUIRED for the confirmation process and we warn our Pensioners to BEWARE of Fraudsters.

The Directorate has decided to deploy the application in phases, starting with Fifty Thousand (50,000) pensioners cut across the four operational departments and the six geo-political zones, selected to participate in this pilot phase.

On the successful implementation of this pilot phase, we will deploy the application on a full scale at predetermined intervals on a continuous basis for all verified pensioners on the payroll.

Kindly be informed that pensioners who are part of this pilot phase have been notified by PTAD via SMS. Pensioners who did not receive the SMS, should kindly note that they are not part of the pilot phase, and would not be able to gain access to the platform to confirm their aliveness at this time. All Pensioners will be duly informed when the application is deployed on a full scale and is available for all pensioners.

We wish to use this opportunity to assure our esteemed pensioners that the “I Am Alive” confirmation solution was designed with their utmost welfare in mind leveraging on accuracy, reliability, user friendliness and convenience. We had promised that the era of bringing out our aged pensioners for field verification is over, and we stand by our promise.

Be rest assured that nobody can tamper with your pension payment through the “I Am Alive” platform. If somebody with a smartphone or computer system in your neighbourhood helps you to confirm your aliveness, the person cannot steal your money. All we need is a confirmation that you are still alive so that we can continue to pay your pension.

In the coming weeks, we intend to carry out massive awareness campaign on this, to sensitise the pensioners and the general public. As always, we are ready and available to answer any questions you might have on the ‘I Am Alive’.

I also wish to use this opportunity to reassure our pensioners and Next of Kin that PTAD is working hard and will continue to do so to clear any accrued arrears, while ensuring that monthly pensions are paid promptly.

The labours of our heroes past shall indeed not be in vain.

Nice initiative