The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Pensioners

  • Union empowers women pensioners

    The National Union of Pensioners(NUP), Electricity Sector, has said empowering  women pensioners is vital to a fulfilled life after retirement.

    Its President, Comrade Temple Ubaniho, spoke during a capacity building workshop for women pensioners at Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Kwara State.

    He said it is part of the union’s plan to train the women to drive the union, adding that the men too would benefit from the training.

    He said before 2012, when he decided to encourage women to  participate in the activities of the union, they were not performing as much as was expected.

    He said: “Before 2012 when I decided to bring in the women to fully participate in the activities of the union, they were not performing as much as one would expect. But I brought them on board to participate actively in our activities in 2012.

    “We believe so much in exposing our leadership at various levels to trainings. It is for the women to remain focused and be able to participate in the union’s vision and mission for the betterment of members all over the country.

    “We have come a long way in fighting for our rights as pensioners. Our employer, the Federal Government has deem it fit to pay our monthly pensions as at when due. But we were able to achieve this feat through constant negotiation and dialogue with the government”, he said.

  • Ex-service pensioners say no to protest

    Ex-service men under the aegis of the Association of Ex-service Pensioners have distanced themselves from the alleged planned protest by Retired Army, Navy and Airforce (RANAO) Organisation, a group of military retirees to be led by Lt. Col Azubuike Nas (rtd).

    In a statement signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Col. Henry Ikoghode (rtd) and its President, PA Zubair (rtd), they said the planned protest was uncalled for.

    While justifying their misgivings for the protest, the group said its decision was informed by the prospect of a possible settlement of their backlog of arrears by the Federal Government; as such it was only fair to reciprocate government’s gestures.

    According to the group, the planned protest was ill-informed because those mooting the idea had never participated in the different dialogues with the government.

    In the statement which reads in part, the group said: “We had a dialogue with the government through the Defence Headquarters and presented the case of the military pensioners to them. We also gave them a list of the areas in which the military pensioners have been shortchanged since 2003 and they agreed to take adequate action to remedy the pension anomalies pointed out by our Association.

    “It is therefore illogical for any group to start embarking on any form of protest now that the Government appears to be taking genuine steps towards solving the military pension problem. Our prayers to the government through the Defence Headquarters include the balance of 20.37% which was illegally deducted from their original 53.37% pension increment during the implementation of CONAFSS 2010.”

    Besides, they said part of their prayers to the government is to carry out harmonisation of HAFSS 2003 Salary Review which took effect from 1st October 2003, payment of the balance of retirement benefits to officers and soldiers who disengaged from Military Service between 2003 and 2006 using the approved monetised benefits of HAFSS 2003.

    The group also impressed on the government the need to implement the new minimum wage salary review (CONAFSS 2011) to the military pensioners as well as carry out the correct computation of the pension aspect of CONAFSS 2007 using the approved pensionable benefits.

    The main cause of the present military pension problem, the group emphasised, ‘Is the failure of the government to carry out harmonisation since 2003.  As a result of this, only a fraction of what is supposed to be paid to the military veteran is being paid to him at the moment. This is because the correct pension cannot possibly be paid when harmonisation has not been carried out after five successive salary reviews in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.”

    Expatiating, the group said: “A direct consequence of this is that we now have a situation whereby the pension of an officer or a soldier who disengaged earlier in the same rank and years of service, is far less than the pension of an officer or a soldier who is just disengaging from the service with the same rank and years if service.  No known version of the terms and conditions of service of the military supports this conduct, neither are there other laws of the land that support such anomaly.  Yet, that has now become the rule rather than the exception and it does not seem to border any government until now that this government has agreed to implement it.  This is one of the major concessions the government has made to us in our dialogue with them.”

  • Ogun assures pensioners of prompt payment

    The Ogun State government  has re-assured pensioners in the State of prompt payment of their pensions and improved welfare packages henceforth. The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Adewale Oshinowo, gave this assurance in an interview with newsmen in Abeokuta during the week..

    Oshinowo, while recalling a recent encounter he had with protesting pensioners, said the pensioners were in his office to protest the delay in the payment of their May pension. He, however, added that payment was already made but was yet to be credited into the accounts of the pensioners when they came to express their grievances.

    He assured that Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration would never intend to delay their pensions for any reasons. He said: “What happened was that we moved the account to the Bureau of pension in order to pay the banks involved. That was done but maybe the accounts of the beneficiaries were yet to be credited at the time they protested.”

    While emphasising on the the government’s commitment to pensioners’ and workers’ welfare in the state, he said government would never jettison it’s responsibility on the prompt payment of pension and workers’ salary, adding that workers should be expecting their June salary soon from their various banks to enable them celebrate Eid-il-fitri.

    Speaking on behalf of the pensioners, the Chairman of Local Government Pensioners in the state, Chief Sikiru Ayilara, confirmed that they have received their May pension, saying that the June and subsequent months should be paid as at when due.

    “We didn’t lock up the Finance Commissioner and his staff contrary to speculations in some newspapers. We just registered our grievances and pains,” Ayilara submitted.

  • Aviation pensioners oppose concession, privitasation of airports 

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), branch said they are opposed to plans by the Federal Government to concession or privatise four airport terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt .

    They said the move is against national interest as the persons, or company to be contracted to handle these international airports could be hired, to allow weapons into the country .

    Speaking at a briefing in Lagos yesterday, the National Chairman of NUP, FAAN, Comrade Rasak Ope and the Administrative Secretary, Comrade Emeka Njoku, said previous attempts by government to achieve any form of concession in the aviation sector has been fraught with controversies .

    They said rather than concession the airports, FAAN, should be allowed to run existing airports without interference, saying the last administration excluded FAAN from privatisation, or concession based on its security implications .

    They urged the Federal Government to focus on airports rather than privatalising these viable airport terminals, adding that  since the Minister of Aviation, Capt Hadi Sirika  is determined to make the airports profitable, he should concentrate on unviable airports and make them viable.

    The union officials explained that airports across the world, represent a  country’s sovereignty, hence handing them to individuals or group of people portends danger to the country.

    They said previous attempts aimed at privatising some government entities, including  the Power Holding Company of Ngeria, Ajaokuta Steel, Nigerian Ielecommunication and the Nigeria Airways, did not yield the desired results.

    “How can we give out our national heritage to individuals to operate, thereby undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty, losing sight of the security implications, which is supposed to be paramount in every sphere of our national life? they queried, stressing that airports should not be seen as buying and selling ventures, where profit should be the yardstick

    “Airports represent the public interest, such as economic, social activities and international connections, from country to country and state to state,” they said, pointing out that  contracting our four major airports to a person or company to handle could be dangerous as interest parties could be  hired or compromised to  allow weapons into the country, including people of questionable characters.

    “They can use this laxity to flock into the country and forment trouble which can lead to the  deaths of citizens.

    They argued that it was inappropriate  at this time when Nigeria is still battling with Boko Haram’s agitation  state of Biafra and militancy. Therefore we should not open more ways for trouble in the name of “wanting our airports to be more viable and putting Nigerians in danger,”

    They questioned whether the Act establishing FAAN has been abrogated or amended by the National Assembly to warrant the implementation of this plaaned concessin, or privatisation.

  • Military pensioners set for nationwide protest

    •Govt accused of discrepancy in pensions

    Military pensioners are planning a nationwide strike against the Federal Government for its alleged failure to meet its pension obligation to pensioners.

    The protest, the military pensioners said, would climax on July 13 at the Aso Rock gate in Abuja at 9 a.m.

    Speaking with our reporter in Enugu, the protest coordinator, Col. Azubuike Nass (retd), said: “We continue to demand our pension rights. We have paid our dues in patriotic service to this nation. We deserve our pension rights when we are alive, not when we are dead.

    “This nation is not too poor to pay our constitutional pensions. We cannot be intimidated into silence on this matter.

    “We (military pensioners) are yet to see any clear sign of being paid part of our pension arrears. Information at our disposal indicates that parts of the arrears were collated by government in September 2015 and included in the 2016 budget draft. Thirty-three per cent arrears, which is government-accepted and computed sum, with official circular to relevant Federal Government offices dealing with pension issues, was understood to be in the budget.”

    Nass queried: “Were our arrears a victim of bureaucratic falsification and mutilation that occurred in Budget 2016? Was it cut down or expunged by the National Assembly in its ‘scrutinisation’? Or, is it covered in a different sub-head yet to be clarified?”

    The military pensioners were sceptical that “Mr President is most likely unaware of the true situation,” adding: “We need to do something to bring the issue to Mr President’s attention.”

    Insisting that 53 per cent pay increase for pensioners was duly approved by the Federal Government in 2010, following similar public service pay increase of 2009 and in accordance with the provisions of Section 173 of the Constitution.

    They regretted that government resisted to pay it for years.

  • Strike: 41 workers, pensioners died in Ondo, Ekiti, say labour leaders

    No fewer than 41 pensioners and workers in  Ondo and Ekiti states have  died owing to non-payment of their pensions and salaries.

    The figure was released yesterday by the states’ labour leaders when they gave situation reports on the strike embarked upon by workers.

    According to Ondo State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), 35 of their members and pensioners have died because they could not afford  their needs.

    Workers in the state are on strike over non-payment of their five months salaries.

    The state chairman of the JNC, Mr. Sunday Adeleye, said the 35 persons, who died were 23 public servants and 12 pensioners.

    He said they died due to lack of money for medication and feeding.

    The labour leader said some of them died due to anxiety on how to meet up with their family responsibilities.

    Adeleye said the labour accepted the blame for starting the strike too late.

    He said that they should have started the action earlier but for the agreement they had with Governor Olusegun Mimiko on the matter.

    He said: “We are tired of stories. We know where the money is. The government should mop up all the money – either ecological fund, capital projects fund and all monies – to pay our salaries. Our people are dying.

    “If the situation should persist beyond Friday, we may not be able to guarantee what may be the consequences.

    “We know the accounts where the money is. We are only being cautious because we believe the government is still our own.

    “With the information at our disposal, we are not negotiating one or two months’ salaries. We must be paid at least three months’ salaries before we can go back to our duty posts”.

    In Ekiti State, six workers have died so far in the last five months that the salary crisis started.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman, Raymond Ade Adesanmi, who confirmed this in a telephone chat with The Nation yesterday, said the condition of workers had worsened with the non-payment of their salaries.

    Adesanmi said one of the five dead workers, who was a teacher, committed suicide in Aramoko-Ekiti, headquarters of Ekiti West Local Government because of the non-payment of salaries and the rising interest on the bank loans obtained.

    The NLC leader regretted that many workers, who suffering from ailments like hypertension and diabetes, were having problems buying drugs to manage their health crisis.

    Adesanmi said: “Six of our workers have died so far because they are committed to banks and their collateral is their salaries. It is true that one of them took his own life in frustration, but I don’t want to mention names. The salaries are not forthcoming and interests on bank loans keep increasing.

    “Some of them are hypertensive and diabetic and they find it difficult to afford the money for treatment and drugs. We were in a meeting on Monday when a member of the NULGE Executive received a call that one of his members had died because he had no money to buy drugs.

    “The situation is as bad as that and that’s why we are calling on government to find means to pay these workers and that is why we have been praying for the past two days and the grand finale of the prayer holds tomorrow.”

    Ekiti workers started a three-day prayer and fasting, which starts at 10.00 am from Tuesday and it ends today.

    Confirming the Aramoko suicide matter, the state Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), Olusola Adigun, said the late teacher ate a lethal substance.

    Painting a pathetic picture of what some workers have been going through, the ASUSS boss said some of the workers resorted to petty stealing to feed and keep body and soul together.

    Adigun said: “What we are going through is pathetic and we want the media to help us highlight our problems so that government will know the seriousness and gravity of the suffering of workers being owed salaries.

    “There was a case in Ikere, where somebody went to steal cocoyam. She was caught and beaten and taken to the Ogoga’s palace and it was the Oba that gave her N10,000 to meet her immediate needs.

    “I have lost two of my former officers, who retired without getting their gratuities; that is what is happening to us in Ekiti.”

    The Leader of the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) Task Force, Kingsley Ebong, said non-payment of five-month arrears of workers’ salaries had impoverished them and prevented them from performing their basic duties in their families.

    The labour official, who spoke while moving round to enforce the strike, said there “is massive hunger in Ekiti land” and hence, Fayose must look for means to pay the workers, whom, he said, had endured pangs of suffering until they could no longer bear it again.

  • Again, on the plight of pensioners

    SIR, The woes of pensioners and to certain extent those of regular workers appear an unending phenomenon in many states of the federation. Apart from unpaid gratuities which piled up over several years of “democratic” or civil dictatorial rule, the payment of the mandatory monthly pension to bona fide retirees has become a subject of unmitigated disaster and controversy with arrears ranging from a few months to more than one year owed in some instances.

    It may appear as nothing that workers and pensioners who have contributed to the growth of the country must continue to bear the brunt of the selfish fiscal administrators or unconcerned chief executives. The greatest fiscal mistake of the federal authorities was the doling out of the so-called bailout funds to states without any publicly known stringent conditionality attached. Many commentators in the political space allege that the funds ended in a cul-de-sac. Ideally pensioners with arrears of gratuities should have been the first to be cleared followed by the unpaid salaries of workers. These senior citizens have been badly treated and disgraced instead of being honoured.

    In the   circumstances, I urge President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to put heads together and initiate appropriate legislation to authorise the President as a matter of doctrine of necessity and overall public interest, to dissolve the administration of any state that is adjudged bankrupt and could not pay poor citizen pensioners or workers for more than two months. What further evidence of bankruptcy more than this? The Presidency should take direct control of administration of such states. The affected governors must be made to render full account of their stewardship and face the full wrath of the law if they fail. The suggested measures would send a clear and sharp message that institutionalized impunity, brazen corruption and cronyism have no place under the present dispensation. The people would also be freed from the shackles and menace of modern day imperialism.

    • Alh. Abubakar Usman

    Madakin  Kasar Tirwun, Bauchi.

  • Two pensioners die, three others slump in Bayelsa verification exercise

    Two pensioners die, three others slump in Bayelsa verification exercise

    Two old pensioners died and three others slumped in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, during a verification ordered by the Bayelsa State Government, it was learnt Tuesday.

    It was gathered that the incident occurred on Monday and Tuesday at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex at Ovom area of Yenagoa, the state capital.

    Among the collapsed pensioners, two reportedly survived while one was said to be in a coma at a private hospital in the state capital.

    Prior to the incident, the pensioners who had not been paid many arrears, were said to have complained of stress, hunger and dehydration.

    The inclement weather occasioned by heavy downpour reportedly contributed in exacerbating the hardship of the pensioners during the exercise.

    But the retirees complained that the exercise had many hiccups and wondered why the government would subject them to fresh exercise despite other verifications conducted in the past.

    Sources said the unnamed two dead pensioners were first taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, but their remains were later taken to an undisclosed morgue at a private hospital in the state following the ongoing strike at FMC.

    The Chairman, Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Bayelsa Action Group chapter, Chief Bodi Amaran, confirmed the incident Tuesday.

    Amaran clarified that four pensioners slumped on Monday but that two died while the other two survived.

    He added that, another pensioner collapsed and went into a coma.

    He decried the plight of pensioners in the state, saying that they were being treated as refugees.

    Amaran said the pensioners were owed nine months by Governor Seriake Dickson lamenting that many of them were hungry while others who were on drugs could not buy their medications owing to the deplorable conditions.

    He said: “Four pensioners collapsed on Monday. Of the number, two died and the other two were revived. On Tuesday, one elderly pensioner slumped. He is in a coma as I speak.

    “The Monday incident happened in the afternoon while that of Tuesday happened when the rain was falling. The number of pensioners was many. For nine months, we have not been paid.

    “The conditions of most pensioners are pitiable.  We are being treated as refugees. The last month we got paid was in September 2015.”

    Another pensioner, Mr. Daniel Ogobugha, said he was not happy with the method adopted for the verification adding that the government would have combined the payment of the arrears with the exercise.

    He said: “Yes, we have been here since morning, many of our people have fainted, some critical ones have been rushed to the hospital; the government is helping but this exercise is very stressful to us.

    “Most of us are aged, some can no longer walk but look at us here for verification; well, if it is the way to fish out fake pensioners, is okay but I must tell you that this is not good due the health of some of us.

    “Some of us are being owed for over six months, we can’t pay our children school fees, with the current harsh economy, feeding have been a huge challenge to some families”.

    Another retiree, Mr Richard Epiri, urged the state government to expedite action in paying the backlog of their pensions.

    Confirming the development,the Chairperson, Bayelsa Pension Board, (BPB) Mrs. Jane Aleke, said the the pensioners collapsed because of exhaustion.

    He confirmed that the affected persons were rushed to the hospital.

    Aleke said that the exercise was not aimed at stressing the retirees but to enable the government get actual figure of pensioners.

    She appealed to the retirees to be calm and promised that every pensioner in the state would be captured in the exercise.

    “This is about management of wealth and you know in paying them, the state government cannot just begin to pay with a gauss number, so, we cannot do gauss work.

    “We are ready to reach all the Local governments in the state, we have started with Yenagoa; for those of them, who are sick and cannot walk, we will definitely go to their house,” she said.

  • Edo pensioners and Oshiomhole?

    Edo pensioners and Oshiomhole?

    SIR: Dear Comrade Oshiomhole, if Edo State pensioners have offended you in anyway, let us know so that I and other concerned citizens will apologise.

    You won Vanguard award because of prompt payment of workers salary among other things. Workers in Edo State payroll have never had it so good. What of the pensioners? Where did they go wrong? Is it a crime to retire in Edo State?

    You took the bailout loan for local government workers and left out the pensioners. You have again increased state workers salary from N18,000 to N25,000 minimum wage for this I am happy for the workers but what of pensioners? Why are you giving workers 100 per cent attention and pensioners zero percent attention? Why will you pay workers regularly and owe pensioners up to nine months pension in addition to their gratuity and previous accumulated pension arrears that accrued from the time they retired to the time they started receiving monthly pension? This accumulated pension arrears ought to be paid in bulk the very month they started receiving monthly pension.

    It is true that you inherited a huge amount of gratuity and pension arrears which you have cleared. But it is also true that majority (more than 80 per cent) of those that retired under you have not been paid gratuity and pension arrears. Worst of all they are not even receiving monthly pension now. This beats all logical reasoning. Or is it that you want to push it to the next governor as it was pushed to you? From the way things are unfolding politically in Edo State now, who knows who will be the next governor of Edo State? What if the governor refuse to pay any inherited pension arrears?

    Edo State Pensioners are dying under your watch. To be blunt: so long as you continue to neglect senior citizens of the state, you have achieved nothing.

    I acknowledge that you have done much. When I saw the new Central Hospital complex in Benin, I have to pinch myself to be sure I was awake and not dreaming. What of the Edo State University lyamoh and the upgrading of College of Education Ekiadolor to a university; what of the renovation of primary and secondary schools across the state, the attraction of a cement factory and a power plant to Edo State that will generate thousands of employment, just to mention a few. Please give pensioners their due and allow them to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

     

    • Ukhun Felix,

    Benin City, Edo State.

  • Dickson blames predecessors for non-payment of pensioners 

     

     

    The Governor of Bayelsa state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, Tuesday, blamed the inability of his government to pay pensioners their monthly entitlements on his predecessors.

    The governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, spoke in Yenagoa when he constituted the state and local government pension boards.

    Pensioners are owed about nine months of unpaid arrears in the state.

    Dickson said: “The government inherited a liability of about N6billion; we then worked out a mechanism where we set aside N500million for monthly payment until the last 8 months that the state allocation from the federation account started dropping.

    “For about eight months the pensioners have not been paid and that is very touching because for four years, we did not fail to pay pensioners until the last eight months.

    “Now for this old men and women are on account of the failure of the leadership of the past, we are now unable to meet our obligations to them.

    “We want to use this opportunity to ask for understanding, for people who gave their all for years in the service of the state. We appreciate their service to the state and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that they begin to get their pension every month.”

    But Dickson charged the new boards to make concerted efforts at ensuring the physical verification of all pensioners.

    He gave them an assurance that payment of those identified will commence with immediate effect and lamented the untold hardship of pensioners in the last eight months.

    The state pensions’ board is to be headed by Mrs. Jane Alek, while Sir Frazer Okuoru, is to chair the LG pensions’ board.

    While Owie Biate Igoni will serve as Secretary of the State Pensions Board; Nathan Ayibakeme, Mr. Leader Tamatimigha, Dr. Martha Akpana and HRH Darius Job are to serve as directors, with 1: ex-officio members.

    The local LG pensions’ board has Mr. Mathias Otuogha as Secretary and six other members.

    The governor said he was determined Dickson to completely eradicate payroll fraud in the state and charged both boards to swing into action immediately.

    He advised members of the boards to collaborate with the various ministries, departments, agencies and parastatals to ensure that the names of dead pensioners and persons who above 70 years and above are detected and expunged from the payrolls of the government.

    He said: “This board has a number of experienced people, who can give advice and guidance, and I call for collaboration among those on the board and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to identify all those who are dead and are still on the payroll of the government, and those over 70-80 years still collecting salaries.

    “I charge you all to ensure that all those who are going to be paid are verified.  You have to verify each and every one of them, interact with them, go to them if they are too weak to come, take their photographs, very their age and particulars.”