Scores of pensioners from the four local government areas of Akoko division in Ondo State at the weekend pleaded with Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu(SAN)to bail them out of their present predicaments. They urged him to give preference to the regular payment of their monthly stipends and gratuity as part of dividends of democracy to the people.
According to two of the pensioners,Chief Bola Komolafe,a former school principal and Chief Owolabi Abanikannda, a retired senior public servant,their plea to Akeredolu became imperative due to non-payment of eight months arrears of their entitlements.
They said “having served for good 35 years, it is regretable that we are finding ourselves in this terrible situation, without exaggeration, many of our members have died of hunger. Many are sick without money for medication.”
The pensioners made passionate appeal to the governor to search for a special fund to settle their arears.
Tag: entitlements
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Pensioners urge Akeredolu to pay entitlements
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46 years after, 450 ex-Biafran policemen to get entitlements
•PTAD enrolls 220,000 pensioners
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has enrolled about 220,000 pensioners and uncovered 9,000 ghost payees, its Executive Secretary Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, said yesterday.
According to her, 450 ex-Biafran policemen, who were pardoned in 2000 by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, would soon get their pension and gratuities.
The former Biafran policemen will get pension justice 46 years after. The civil war ended in January 1970.
She however said three former employees of PTAD were sacked because of pension fraud and might be prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
Two other seconded employees have been referred to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita for disciplinary action, she added.
Mrs Ikeazor told reporters that henceforth, pension payment would be effected by the 15th day of the month.
She said: “I think we have about 220,000 pensioners nationwide on the payroll. There are still people who are yet to be on the payroll because we haven’t verified them. Right now, the verification that has been completed is Customs, Immigration, Police and Prisons. But we are still doing quality assurance on some of them.
“I am now signatory to pension payment, I make sure everything goes out every 15th of the month. What I inherited at PTAD, I saw the challenges when I came in. I will be honest, I won’t say the database is credible because of many years of neglect.
“What I intend to do is to make sure that we have a credible database so that pensioners that are being paid are the right ones.
“We have already partnered with ICPC. We have established an Anti-Corruption Unit (ACTU) in PTAD. What we are doing now is that we don’t make pension payment into any account without BVN. With this policy, we have dropped about 9,000 pensioners because they don’t have BVN.
“Without BVN presupposes that they are ghost because we inherited a lot of data that we cannot really verify.
“This is why verification is important or key to us. We have only done two zones in Nigeria-the North-West and the South- East zones. We are just computing those ones now to be able to put them on the payroll and start paying.”
Ikeazor said her administration had out in place a zero tolerance policy against corruption in the management of pension.
She said: “I have already started putting the checks and balances in place. The first place I visited after I resumed was the EFCC to meet with the chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
“There was an investigation that was carried out in PTAD that took off the last DG of PTAD and there were other officials indicted. My supervising ministry is the Ministry of Finance. The Minister of Finance got the report first and she wrote me to take action on those indicted. I gave them letters of termination of appointment. There were three of them.
“But the other two were civil servants who were posted or seconded to PTAD. The civil servants among them were posted back to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to take disciplinary action against them. And I attached the EFCC report.
“I have made is clear, it is zero tolerance in PTAD for corruption. I came into politics with my integrity intact, I will leave politics with my integrity intact. It is the same integrity I am carrying into PTAD. I keep a close watch on everything.”
On the plight of 450 former Biafran policemen who are yet to be reintegrated, Ikeazor said those concerned will soon be paid their entitlements and pension.
She added: “We have the issue of War Affected Pensioners. You know, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo gave amnesty to Biafran soldiers and policemen in 2000.
“The military has taken care of the pension of the soldiers of the defunct Republic of Biafra who were granted amnesty. But majority of the policemen have not been paid.
“So, when I came in, they have now brought up the case before me and we are working on that for them to get their dues. One of the men said to me that this is what he has been waiting for before he dies. These men are in their 80s, some in their 90s. Majority of them are from the South-South and South
“I think they are about 450 policemen. I wish you could interview them, they brought tears into my eyes.
“The war is over, we have to reintegrate them. It is just like rebuilding the North-East now, we have to reintegrate these people from the South-South and South-East.”
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PTAD chief: pension entitlements’ll be paid
The new Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Barr Sharon Ikeazor has assured all pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) that all their outstanding pension benefits and other entitlements would be paid.
In her acceptance speech during the hand over ceremony at PTAD’s Headquarters in Abuja yesterday, she said the Directorate will work to ensure that pensioners are never subjected to uncertainties, painful delays, and unnecessary hurdles that have been the history of DBS pension’s payment.
The PTAD chief said she felt humbled to be entrusted by President Mohamrnadu Buhari with the important task of making positive difference in the lives of millions of Nigerians who have served their father land with dedication over the decades.
She said the responsibilities of PTAD are clearly defined, noting that it is tasked primarily with ensuring timely payment of benefits and other entitlements as at when due to pensioners under the DBS.
She however said budgetary provisions for pensions has always been one of the most vulnerable items in budget implementation.
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Joy for Rivers NPA ex-workers after years of waiting for entitlements
IN spite of age, they protested not minding the rain or sun. All they were interested in was how the management of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) would recognise them as full pensioners of the company.
Last weekend they celebrated the success of their struggle after the NPA management heard their call.
•Dikewoha (centre) receiving the gift. They were due for retirement between 2006-2007 but were disengaged as a result of the Port reform. The management of the NPA sacked them without entitlement. And they were not absorbed as pensioners of the company. That was the beginning of their struggle. They made several peaceful moves to regain their rights but their efforts failed.
Their struggle started in 2009. Some of their colleagues who started the fight did not make it to the harvest time. Many people died because of frustration and suffering after many years of waiting for their entitlements.
In September 2013, the disengaged workers were at the Port Harcourt office of Vintage Press Limited, publisher of The Nation and Sporting life. They pleaded with the company to assist them fight the battle. Two days after, the pensioners organised what many described as mother of all protests blocking the main entrance of the Port Harcourt office of the NPA. It took the NPA management more than two days to calm the angry protesters.
The Nation reported the protest and that was the beginning of negotiation to recognise them as pensioners. Today the storm is over; they are now full pensioners of NPA and they have started receiving their pension monthly.
At a thanksgiving party organised by the pensioners in Port Harcourt to appreciate God and to honour those who contributed for the success of the struggle, the leader of the group, Comrade Chris Nnamene presented a gift to this reporter for his contributions to the struggle. He described The Nation as the “Newspaper for the helpless and the voiceless Nigerians”.
Nnamene, who recounted how the fight started, said they were very happy the way The Nation reported their stories during their struggle.
He said: “After we were disengaged by our erstwhile employer in 2006 and 2007 as a result of the Federal Government port reform policy, as humans we became helpless. Hence we started to seek for God’s guidance and our dogged fight to regain our statutory rights. After more than seven years of struggle, then came the total reversal and eventually introduced the great surprise that gave us life, special significance and hope.
“The victory wouldn’t have been possible without the contribution of the media and human right organisations. But among the media men who assisted us two people did exceptional report, not only that, they also stood by us to ensure justice. Today we are here to honour and to celebrate the contribution of Mr. Precious Dikewoha of The Nation and Mr. Baridam Sika of Radio Rivers for their sacrifices in this great struggle. Today I make bold to say that your invaluable support and sacrifices will forever remain indelible in our minds. May our heavenly father continue to bless the work of your hand?
“ To my contemporaries, I appreciate your understanding and patience. I have always advised that in the face of our struggle, hunger and frustration we must at all time conduct ourselves with honour and dignity knowing fully well that our God is not asleep and that we were fighting a just cause. Today, we celebrate the victory after eight years of struggle. The battle was won but we must fight on until we get all that belongs to us. It is my wish to inform you that this ceremony wouldn’t have been possible without the frantic efforts made by the ad hoc planning committee.”
Mr. Anthony Mbachu, one of the reinstated NPA pensioners, said: “From 2008 when the struggle started we know what we have gone through. Over eighty people have died but God used the present Managing Director (MD) of Nigeria Port Authority to listen to our plight. We feel unhappy that those who started with us in this struggle died on the way. But we are glad that their next of kins have started receiving alert and we believe that all of them will get alert soon.”
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Falana writes bank over retirees’ entitlements
Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has threatened to sue Unity Bank Plc if it fails to pay the entitlements of over 300 workers disengaged about five months ago.
In a petition, which was sent through their lawyer, Falana, the discharged staff contended that the moment their appointments were terminated, “your management deliberately for unjustifiable reasons refused to pay their exit benefits and entitlements, including all previously accrued entitlements prior to the termination of their employment without offering any explanation for the delay till date, in flagrant disobedience to the extant labour laws.”
The threat of legal action is contained in a petition dated September 11, , signed by Dare Falana (of the Falana and Falana Chambers) on behalf of the retirees and sent to the Managing Director of the bank.
While claiming that the bank paid some monies early September to a few of the affected workers, it pointed out that the payment fell short “of the total benefit and entitlements due to those who were paid, while the rest were not paid.”
It was also alleged that the bank failed in the “payment of staff leave backlog, full value for number of years in service, interest earned on funds set aside/invested and a host of other entitlements which currently constitute over 60 per cent of expected gratuity payment from the bank in contravention of collective agreement and antecedents thus undermining the welfare of its retirees.”
The petition added: “An employee whose appointment is terminated and has leave days outstanding or accrued as at the date of termination, shall have the days commuted to cash.” It wondered why the bank was not disposed to paying them their leave bonus.
The petitioners alleged that the benefits and entitlements of affected top management staff were paid, while those of the lower cadre staff were left unattended.
They added that since the management claimed that it invested the funds set aside for the payment of their outstanding benefit to yield interest, the retirees “are at a loss as to why the investment has not been recalled for their use.”
They urged the bank to urgently address the demand of the entire staff affected in the disengagement exercise, failure, warning that otherwise litigation would be instituted against the bank.
However, in its response to the petition, the bank through its legal officers, Alaba Williams and Hamisu Sani, Head, Legal Services Department and Legal Services respectively, denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that it places premium on meeting its due obligations to deserving ex-staff of the bank in accordance with its policies.
In its five paragraphs letter, the bank requested the lawyer to verify the petitioners’ claims so it can do the needful, if need be, emphasising that as a socially responsible organisation, it is ready to settle the entitlements of every individual with genuine claims.
“To assist our investigation, please make available the schedule of amounts of entitlements each of your clients have been paid, what each of them claims to be outstanding and the parameters for their calculation and expectations,”, the letter added.
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Pensioners decry unpaid entitlements
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners in the Southeast has lamented their unpaid entitlements, running into 15 years.
In a six-point communiqué at the end of its meeting in Abakaliki at the weekend, the pensioners called on the Federal Government to intervene in their situation.
The communiqué, signed by the Chairman, Prince Clement Igwe and Secretary, Evang. Livinus Ashiegbu, condemned the situation, saying: “the governments are unfriendly and insensitive to the plight of pensioners.”
The forum frowned at the government’s refusal to pay their pension increases of six, 15 and 33 per cent.
“This situation has made pensioners receive less than their counterparts. Based on this development, the Southeast forum is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in our predicament,” the communiqué said.
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Save our lives, Delta steel workers beg Buhari over 20 year entitlements
Aggrieved employees of Delta Steel Company (DSC) have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to come to their aid and prevail on the company to pay all entitlements owed them over the last 20 years.
The workers’ appeal, which was contained in a statement issued by the spokesmen of the DSC Pressure Group; Amanyo David, Emmanuel Ikhalo and John Okari, demanded that the company be compelled to pay all dues and entitlements that should be paid to retrenched employees from 1995 to date.
Narrating the ugly experiences that the employees of the company had been made to go through since the first retrenchment exercise in 1995, the group said those sacked had yet to be paid their entitlements, while the company has also failed to fulfil its contractual agreements with those whose appointments were terminated.
The group particularly expressed sadness over the inhuman disposition of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), which intervened in the crisis in 2012, expressing sadness that AMCON only intervened in the company’s indebtedness to banks, while shunning the plight of the staff of the company.
“Since the 1995 reorganisation/retrenchment exercise by the then management of DSC, under the ownership of the then FGN, it is sad to note that all the victims of this exercise are yet to be paid their commensurate dues, benefits, emoluments and so on, many of those involved in this exercise have died, awaiting payment of their dues.
“Precisely, on the 18th of May, 2012, the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), on the order of the Federal Government, intervened with the intention of paying workers’ dues and entitlements, salary arrears, offset the bank loans and contractors’ debts.
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Politics of Omehia’s portrait and entitlements
Last week the news was everywhere that Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike had restored all the entitlements and benefits of Sir Celestine Omehia as a former governor of the state. Indeed I was very happy that my uncle can now enjoy his entitlements like other past governors who have served the state.
While I was still excited about the news, the governor took Omehia to the Government House, where he raised his portrait and hanged it among other past governors. That means visitors to the Rivers State Government House can now see the portrait and identify Omehia as the past governor of Rivers State. Of course, Wike will be described by Omehia and his loyalists as a man who is kind to their master. But most of us who saw what happened during Omehia’s electioneering campaign in 2007 and what happened when the Supreme Court gave Amaechi the mandate to become the governor will know that Wike is playing politics with my uncles (Omehia and Amaechi).
I am putting this on record for the sake of my uncles and to avoid unnecessary hatred among their loyalists which the politics of portrait and entitlement is about to cause. Like me, Amaechi and Omehia are from Umuordu village in Ubima community of Ikwerre Local Government Area and as far as I am concerned, Omehia does not need the entitlements to survive but Wike only enjoys the benefit of using my uncles for his political advancement.
In 2007, former President Olusegun Obasanjo put a spanner in the works of Amaechi’s governorship plan with his novel K-leg declaration thereby temporarily denying him the opportunity of contesting the election of that year as a governorship candidate on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP). To consider Ikwerre people for the vacant job, Omehia was considered for the job and most of us from Ikwerre ethnic nationality, particularly Ubima community threw up ethnic sentiment and supported Omehia as our brother. But Wike, who was described by Amaechi then as fearless, bold, and reliable political ally, kicked against Omehia’s candidacy.
Just like Okrika is in the eyes of APC in Rivers, Obio/Akpor was hell for Omehia. Wike did not give Omehia a breathing space to campaign in his area. Because of Wike’s ‘hatred’ for Omehia, he vowed to ensure Omehia would not become the governor of Rivers State. He promised Omehia that his supporters were going to vote for the PDP and get victory in the court for Amaechi .
Omehia sent some elders to Wike to persuade him to cross over to his camp but he refused. Eventually, Omehia served Rivers State from May 29, 2007 to October 26, 2007.
Because of Wike’s contributions to the struggle that led to Amaechi’s victory at the Supreme Court, he became the first to be appointed into a political position in Amaechi’s government as the Chief of Staff in 2007.
One thing Omehia should not forget in a hurry is that most of the decisions against his administration, especially the alleged recovery of missing government properties and the order that all the past commissioners who served under him should return their official vehicles were all masterminded by Wike. It was Amaechi who pleaded with Wike not to enforce the witch-hunt. Apart from chasing those who served under Omehia, Wike also ensured that none of Omehia’s supporters got contract or appointment. We need to know that when Wike was working with Ameachi he had more power than the governor because the governor trusted him so much more than any of his cabinet members.
In the 2011 election, Omehia went back to political field to try his luck. At that time he came under the platform of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), his worst enemy was Amaechi’s campaign director, Wike.
In Obio/Akpor Local Government where I covered the 2011 election, Wike personally ensured that Omehia did not have reasonable votes in all the wards . APGA party agents and Omehia’s supporters were brutalised by hired thugs. Some of the APGA party agents who escaped can attest to what they saw in 2011 under the supervision of Wike.
So, who is deceiving who over the politics of entitlements and portrait? Uncle Omehia, you are a man of high sense of decency, the few times I have interacted with you showed that you are a decent man. Who knows what Wike has in mind for doing what he is doing? Just be careful; if Amaechi who trusted him so much could fall out with him, then you an old enemy must be careful.
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Govt: we’ve paid their entitlements
The Ekiti State government has said it has paid the entitlements of the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers.
The government, in a statement yesterday by the Commissioner for Finance, Toyin Ojo, said the lawmakers duly acknowledged receipt of cheques for the payments last Wednesday.
The statement reads: “We would have remained silent in deference to the agreement reached at the last Monday meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, that all parties should be silent on the outcome of the meeting.
“This was especially so because the lawmakers said they do not want their leaders to know the outcome of the meeting.
”However, since the lawmakers have chosen not to abide by this agreement by first issuing a statement to deny and reveal what was discussed at the meeting, and now going to the press to say that they have not received any payment, the government does not have any other option than to tell the public the truth and set the records straight.
“The government is by this statement putting the records straight since the money paid to the lawmakers belong to Ekiti people.
“They were isssued cheques because the lawmakers pleaded that their accounts should not be credited directly so as to prevent the banks from making deductions for loans taken.
“Saying that they have not been paid is quite unfortunate and unbecoming of honourable members of the House of Assembly and this is sad.
“We will want to keep our fingers crossed and we wish to caution the lawmakers to adhere strictly to the spirit of the agreements.
“Governor Fayose’s good gesture aimed at ensuring peace in the state should not be abused.”
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‘Why we passed bill on ex-governors’ entitlements’
The bill on the entitlements of former governors, speakers and their deputies passed by Jigawa House of Assembly, is aimed at eliminating corruption, the Speaker, Alhaji Adamu Ahmed, has said.
The bill made provision for former governors, speakers and their deputies to receive the basic salary of the incumbent as pension.
It also stipulated that the government should provide the former officials with two new vehicles to be replaced after every four years.
The officials are also entitled to six-bedrooms apartment fully furnished, two personal assistants not below grade level 10, two drivers and furnished office.
Adamu spoke yesterday in Dutse while reacting to the controversies generated by the bill.
He explained that the house passed the bill to curb looting of public treasury by former office holders, saying it was not passed to enrich them after leaving office.
“The bill will discourage stealing and looting of government treasury.
“If a former governor or speaker knows that the government will take care of him, there won’t be any basis or need for him to steal,” he said.
The speaker said that all former civilian governors, speakers and their deputies were expected to benefit from the provisions of the bill which is awaiting the governor’s assent.