Tamale, Nov. 25, GNA - A total of 125 employers in the Tamale Metropolis owe the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) an amount of 484 million cedis as at October this year. Mr. Richard Ampadu, Operations and Evaluation Coordinator at the SSNIT headquarters in Accra who made this known at a day's employers seminar in Tamale asked the employers not to use such moneys to expand their businesses.

The forum was to offer the participants who came both the formal and the informal sectors the opportunity to ask questions bothering them in relations to the SSNIT pension scheme and to make inputs to modify the scheme. Topics that the forum discussed included, "The employer's obligations under the National Pension Scheme", "The employer-partner in the prompt processing and payment of benefits" and "SSNIT's new image".

Mr. Ampadu called on all those employers who were owing to either come and pay off, negotiate for payment to avoid any disciplinary action.

He said about 10 percent of workers in the country had been covered under SSNIT and that SSNIT would now extend its coverage to the informal sector.

On the students' loan scheme, Mr. Ampadu advised guarantors to be careful when guaranteeing for students since it would jeopardize their future if those students fail to pay off the loan.

Participants expressed worry about the delay in payment of pensioners, the 'lukewarm' attitude of some SSNIT personnel and why SSNIT was not embarking on education about the essence of maintaining a single contribution number to avoid delays in payment. Some suggested that SSNIT be giving quarterly statements just as some of the Banks are doing so that members could read and correct errors before their pension was due.

Others appealed to SSNIT to arrange with employers whose employees had benefited from SSNIT students' loan scheme to effect payment by installments as a measure to discharge their guarantors.