THE Fiji National Provident Fund has apologised to all pensioners for the delays in the first payment payout under the new age-based pension scheme.
FNPF chief executive officer Aisake Taito said the delays had been caused by technical glitches because of internal and external processes.
This newspaper was inundated with calls and visits from disgruntled pensioners in the west, Nausori and those in Suva with complaints that they had not received any payments on Monday as stated by the FNPF.
"We're working round-the-clock to sort out these glitches and are processing payments on 24-hour shifts to ensure that all payments are paid out by Friday," Mr Taito said.
He pleaded with members to bear with them saying the processing was an onerous exercise and "we are pooling all resources to sort this out".
He said the fund would ensure the large amounts of money were transferred accurately and efficiently to each of the 11,000 members.
He added the fund would also ensure payments for those that complied with the initial deadline was processed and paid out within the next few days.
"I would like to sincerely apologise to pensioners for this unforeseen delay and would like to assure them that payments would be completed before the end of the week," Mr Taito said in a statement released to The Fiji Times last night.
All pensioners who validated and chose an option before February 29 this year were to have received their payments on April 16.