Analysis On the Leadership, Achievements of Alh Nasiru Saidu Namaska, Director General, Niger State Pension Board

The Director General Niger State Pension Board Alhaji Nasiru Saidu Namaska since his assumption of office as the Director General Niger State Pension Board, he has been working assiduously to ensure prudent use of resources made available to the board in a very transparent, accountable, and friendly manners to the benefit of beneficiaries and the state.

The energetic, humble, patriotic and committed Director General, Namaska’s ability to take a firm and decisive actions to the benefit of all has given him high credit above many of his predecessors.

 His consistency and ability to remain focused despite distractions including deliberate efforts to frustrate some of his policy implementation processes. He refused to be intimidated or deterred
in anyway just to maintain his integrity, trustworthiness and family name built over the years.

His foresight, shun of sycophancy, ability to change old ways of doing things by ensuring proper records keeping and documentation of all pensioners in Niger State through the current capturing to have a data base of all pensioners with the view to   add up the new entrance by the implementation of “Am Alive” policy in order to identify dead pensioners, all in an efforts to correct the system for better service delivery and enhanced transparency and the accountability in the process of pension administration that was lacking over the years.

Alhaji Nasiru Saidu Namaska a fearless and courageous leader, a political scientist, with vast experience who was a deputy manager in the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) Abuja, his years of pension administration made him competent and has helped him to improve sanity and achieve successes recorded thus far.

He transforms difficulty into opportunity and keeps the spirit moving forward.

He has further introduced the Niger State Pension Administrative System (NPAS) that is deliberately aimed to block leakages, prevent fraud and other negative tendencies in the system which reduces manpower need and stress in administering pension activities in Niger State in a more transparent and accountable process. Although, “Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right” he has insisted by setting the record straight without ambiguity

The fully implementation of NPAS will totally changed the narrative for better by building confidence in the system in a more transparent manners.

However, transformation from the past manual computation to the ongoing automation has improved the system where many pensioners files are being captured at a goal hence it has drastically reduced the monthly pension arrears and to be on it payroll without delay as it used to be. While plans are underway to open a call centre to address pensioners challenges without necessarily visiting the board headquarters physically as it was used to be in the past. Just as the board will also soon embarked on e-payment to avoid manipulation and to ensure first come, first serve bases.

Apparently, in the last two years of the current administration under the leadership of the Niger State state Governor Mohammed Umar Bago the board has paid more gratuity and pension in billions than the successive  governments in the state with the full records of payments for verification.

Though, what appears as a setback may be a quiet protection, and what feels like a delay may be a gentle redirection for the betterment of the state.

The son of a very prominent and most famous late Emir of Kontagora, however, prioritize the welfare package, training and retraining of staff to enhance contemporary knowledge especially in the areas of digitalization that reduces stress and ease service delivery within a very shortest possible time with a more reliable and better results is achieved.

Alhaji Nasiru Saidu Namaska is a seasoned public servant with vast experience in administration, financial management, and public sector reforms. who dedicated a significant part of his career to service delivery, accountability, and improving the welfare of citizens, particularly retirees who have served the state diligently in their must useful years.

 He never bothered about the very few critics from those who believes in the old ways of treating pension activities to a modern and digitalization process of governance. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing”.

Since the assumption of office of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, the Niger State Government has paid several billions of naira in gratuities, benefiting thousands of retirees across the state and local governments in the state.

 This unprecedented commitment reflects the administration’s resolve to clear backlog and restore dignity to retirees.

Moreso, Alhaji Nasiru Namaska introduced the “Am Alive” a verification exercise designed to confirm the status of each pensioners periodically aimed to ensure that only genuine and living retirees receive pensions, thereby eliminating ghost beneficiaries from the system.

 This initiative has enhanced transparency, improved data integrity, and enhanced prompt and accurate pension payments in Niger state.

On the assumption of office by the current State Pension Board Director General he has recorded a lot of
successes as a result of strong political will from the  State Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago through improved financial discipline, adoption of technology-driven processes, and a committed workforce within the board.

 He has also strengthened monitoring mechanisms and ensure that funds released for pensions are utilized strictly for that purpose.

Notwithstanding the achievements, Namaska inheritaged significant challenges, including backlog of unpaid gratuities, poor record-keeping, inadequate data management systems, and funding constraints.

Currently, while making a steady progress, challenges such as increasing number of retirees, funding sustainability, and legacy data issues still require continuous attention in order to improve it service delivery. He has changed the cause to avoid foreseen disaster.

To put the record straight, in the last two years under review the board under the leadership of the present DG Nasiru Saidu Namaska have ensured consistent monthly pension payments, facilitated the payment of backlog gratuities, introduced reforms like the “Am Alive”which is a mechanism that tackles/ suspends unreported deceased pensioners by family members to the Board from the payroll automatically once the pensioner did not thumb print every six months in any of the commercial banks nationwide.

These efforts have significantly restored confidence among the retirees in the state. We must note that, ‘It doesn’t take much to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do”.

Namaska a believer of teamwork and inclusivity who always wanted to be
remembered as a reformer have restored dignity to pensioners, strengthened institutional processes, and laid a solid foundation for an accountable, transparent, efficient, and sustainable pension system in Niger State.

His introduction of Niger State Pension Administrative System (NPAS) by the Director General is aimed at pensioners to be properly profile, generate unique ID and print checklist of all pensioners.

While the Computation Sheet is to compute gratuity and pension with supporting documents filed electronically and generate a computation sheet with the retiree picture on it.

The system enables efficient data management, reduces manual errors, improves verification processes, and enhances service delivery.

Moving forward, he plan to fully automate pension operations, integrate biometric verification, and strengthen policy frameworks to ensure sustainability even after his tenure as DG of the board. “Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds”.

He has remain silent despite being a results oriented individual because Nasiru Saidu Namaska believes in letting results speak louder than words.

 His focus has been on delivering tangible outcomes rather than publicity. However, he recognized the importance of public engagement and gradually improving the communication to keep stakeholders informed about the activities of the pension administration in Niger state.

The Director General who have been privileged to receive recognition from various organizations in appreciation of his contributions to public service and pension reforms. Is a very humble personality for the confidence reposed in him by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago who finds him worthy with his expectation to bring meaningful reforms, in addressing longstanding challenges, and improve the welfare of retirees – have remain committed to achieving these goals without hesitation.

His humility, simplicity, dedication, empathy, trustworthiness and uprightness is not in doubt, the Current Status -As of early 2026, the government have continued to pay in batches following the successful payment of earlier batches to the beneficiaries in which the Verification Payment is strictly based on successful “Am Alive” verification and comprehensive screening to ensure records are accurate before disbursement.

On the Batch Structure: The process covers both state and local government retirees on a first-come, first-served basis, including next-of-kin for deceased workers. Meanwhile, on the administration’s commitment: Governor Bago’s administration in line with the “New Niger Agenda” is not owing salary arrears and have continued to focused on the commitment to clearing backlog of gratuity, uninterrupted Resumption of Gratuity Payments and Reviewing Pensions hence the need for Niger Government to commence automation of Pensioners Payments.

A God fearing and a very dedicated religious person Nasiru Namaska, the tireless researcher as described by many in the state and among some office staff – the Pension Board Boss encourages pensioners to avoid paying staff for assistance and to report any malpractices, emphasizing that the process is designed to be transparent and directly to the beneficiaries aimed at curbing purported fraudulent activities in the board.

The Niger State Pension Board, under the administration of Governor Umaru Bago, is actively clearing outstanding gratuity and pension liabilities, with over ₦7 billion disbursed since 2016.

The board uses the electronic “Am alive” verification is to ensure it secured payments, with recent efforts focusing on issuing cheques for the preparing for subsequent batches.

This year annual pension increase will be 4.5% that takes effect from April, 2026 in which the same rate applies to both pensions already in payment and deferred pensioners.

Governor Bago’s unwavering commitment to resuming gratuity comes amid efforts to reform the pension sector including sometimes increase in monthly pensions from N8.3 billion to N11.9 billion.

Active Payments: The state resumed payment of gratuities previously suspended, aiming to clear backlogs for both state and local government retirees.
Active Verified Beneficiaries: Payments are strictly based on successful “Am Alive’” verification is to ensure only legitimate pensioners receive funds.

On his commitment to Welfare, the Director General Alhaji Nasiru Namaska is working assiduously to resolve outstanding payments, encouraging patience and ensuring all verified retirees will be paid however, clearing pension gratuity arrears by batches with over 13 batches currently.

Consequently, the state, local government retirees processed under the leadership of governor Mohammed Umar Bago’s administration to date including Local Education Authority (LEA), State and local governments retirees were being issued cheques through recent batches to be delivered in 2026.

Meanwhile, Variation takes cognizance of all variations for every month and the
Verification is the documentation, biometric capture and all relevant information of pensioners are filed electronically to ensure a correct date base, just as Acrue: usually compute deceased pensioner accrued where entitled.

However, Gratuity Management: Keeps track of gratuity liabilities and payment, while the NOK Verification: captures the Physical appearance of Next of Kin (NOK) at the Board for physical capture and documentation of all supporting documents filed electronically before payment of deceased entitlement.

The board is concluding plans so that Pensioners can signup on NPAS portal to be launched very soon to view their payment history, know why they are suspended and what they need to do for the suspension to be lifted.

Similarly, civil servants on Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) can also signup to NPAS portal and see their remittance history as it’s being remitted on monthly basis to their respective Pension Fund Administration’s (PFA’s).

In addition, on CPS: the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) monthly deduction upload and deduction remittance history provide various analytical reports regarding pensioners and pension payments and the retirees will be able to have access to their payment history all aimed at ensuring accountability and transparency in the system in line with the unwavering commitment of Governor Mohammed Umar Bago’s New Niger Agenda.

What the present Director General of Niger State Pension Board Alhaji Nasiru Saidu Namaska needed is the cooperation, understanding, patience, support, and encouragement from all the stakeholders to ensure seamless implementation of the new policies he has initiated to succeed in enhancing a very transparent, accountable process of a leading pension administration in the country.

Nevertheless, remember that, “Responsibility can not be acquired intellectually, but only through experience” and that is what the Niger State Pension Board is experiencing in recent times in the state.