Pensioners in Ekiti State have demanded upward adjustment of their pensions and gratuity in view of the present economic reality occasioned by the removal of subsidies on petroleum products.
The retirees under the aegis of the National Union of Pension(NUP), said their demands was in line with section 210 of the 1999 constitution which states that pensions should be reviewed every five years or anytime workers’ salaries were reviewed.
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti during a prayer session, the NUP Chairman, Ekiti State chapter, Mr. Joel Akinola, said it was unjust that while civil servant wages were being reviewed, nothing was done about pensioners.
Akinola who lamented that pensioners are living in abject poverty as a result of non-payment of their entitlement, said that pensions that were based on the economic indices of 10 years ago were no longer sustainable
He explained there are pensioners who still earn as meager as N500 to N2,000 monthly, wondering how such people would cope with the present economic reality where a litre of fuel is N500.
The NUP chairman lamented that many pensioners across the state are living in abject poverty, adding that some of their children, who are supposed to take care of them, are also unemployed.
He said: “Government should see us as a special project; we deserve better attention because we are the fowl that laid the golden egg.
“In hospitals, there should be a special desk for pensioners, where we can access treatment easily at subsidised rate because we are vulnerable.
“We have invested in the future, and we should be allowed to enjoy it now; it’s our due and right, and we deserve to be paid even with interest.
“We won’t tolerate the excuse that government does not have money, because we see what past government used our money for in Ekiti. The governor and many politicians were growing fat and went home with billions of naira, and they deliberately ignored our cries as if we never mattered.
“Anytime there is increase in salary of workers, our pension should also be reviewed upward to meet current realities. I don’t know what N500 can buy now and that is the monthly pension of some of us.”