Some annuitants of African Alliance Insurance Plc have called on the management/board of the company to pay the four-month arrears owed to them.
The annuitants expressed their reservations in separate interviews with The PUNCH.
The National Insurance Commission dismissed the board and management of African Alliance Insurance in late October and appointed a new board/management to oversee the company’s affairs. Delayed payment of annuitants was one of the reasons for the sacking of the board and management of the company.
Speaking with The PUNCH, one of the annuitants, Gbadebo Olatokunbo, said that he got paid his arrears for May-August in late December and was still being owed for the last four months in 2024.
He said, “It might surprise you to hear that many, if not all, of AAI Contributory Pensioners Annuities were owed four months payment till today, 4/1/2025. I was only paid from May to August 2024 in late December 2024 out of the outstanding debts of eight months. The payments from September-December 2024 are still in limbo. Therefore, any other story to me right now is a fallacy. We hope NAICOM will come open on what we should expect and stop playing the cat-and-rat game with the lives of annuitants with AAI in the year 2025.
“As for me, I’ve stopped thinking about the nonpayment, because it could lead to an early grave. It’s a pity that we’re in a country where citizens don’t abide by the laws and still get away with crimes. Despite the shortcomings that were observed, we should still give kudos to ‘The New Sheriff at PenCom’ for putting pressure on NAICOM on the little payments received by the contributory pensioners in AAI, because if not, we might still not have received a kobo from AAI since they stopped regular payment in April 2024. It was a pity that the past managements at NAICOM/PenCom left things undone for too long with AAI on annuity affairs.”
He maintained that the AAI annuitants still do not know when regular payments of their annuity would resume.
Another annuitant, Maria Laose, warned against claims that AAI had made all annuity payments.
She said, “Everyone making statements on this painful subject must try to verify to what extent AAI has delivered on its obligation to annuitants before announcing fallacies such as the one reported that AAI had paid all annuity payments due annuitants up to date. It’s quite an insensitive thing to do in the face of human suffering.
“It is bad enough that AAI is putting people through this inhuman experience. It becomes really painful when those who should be sanctioning AAI are now the ones covering up for it, to the detriment of those they are expected to protect.”
A retiree, Oladele Deeje, said he is “still owed four months from September to December.”
While announcing the sacking of AAI’s board and management, NAICOM tasked the new board/management with ensuring the interests of policyholders, particularly annuitants, are safeguarded.
