The Akwa Ibom State Head of Service, Mrs Cecilia Udoessien, on Monday said the state government had started training more pension desk officers to ensure effective management of the scheme.

Udoessien made the remark in Uyo when she received the end-of-course report from some state civil servants who returned from a training programme recently.

The staff members were sent on a “Performance Improvement Course’’ at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).

She said that the government had resolved to send more pension desk officers on regular training for effective and efficient management of pension scheme in the state.

The head of service appealed to pension officers to effectively apply the knowledge acquired in the performance of their duties, adding that proper and efficient pension management was important to the state government.

She urged the desk officers to apply their new skills and techniques to ensure stress-free pension payment system in the state.

“The dividends of the investment made by government in the training and retraining of the workforce could only be measured in terms of the high quality of service delivered by officers who benefited from such capacity development programmes,’’ Udoessien said.

She noted that her office would soon begin a series of enlightenment programmes and seminars to refresh pensioners and persons who had anything to do with pension on the new pension system.

According to her, the enlightenment programme will ensure that potential retirees are allowed the choice of what pension platform to opt for on retirement.

Earlier, the team leader, Mrs Atim Enyenihi, had commended the state government for the gesture, saying that the training had exposed them to the rudiments of pension administration, including the use of ICT.

She assured that all the participants would apply their new knowledge to achieve success in the management of pension scheme in the state.