Tag: Pensioners

Despite the allegations against him, the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Okechukwu Ukwuoma remains unruffled.

In a chat after much persuasion, he dismissed all the allegations and insisted that “busy bodies are just talking.”

Ukwuoma said: “I don’t know why they are writing petitions.  You said something about employment, the Board of the agency employed. There is hardly one promotion that I have carried out since I came. The examination and interview were carried out in Abuja.

“Do I have the right to promote apart from the minister? Does agency promote? The board conducted the examination in conjunction with the ministry and after that the report was sent to the ministry.

“All the things they write about me…that I carried out illegal employment or black market employment and that I am destroying the place because I said I have a job. Did I come from the bush? I am a professor in the university before I contested for this job. If I finish my term here, I have somewhere to go. If this place collapses, I have somewhere to go. Because of the simple advise I gave to the workers that they should do something, like this petition now, if the Federal Government says, close down this place, my job is waiting for me at the university.

“So if I say it, it’s not a boast, it is a fact, I am a professor in a university and I am even on a sabbatical in another university. So, I am a professor in two universities at the same time.  That high profile staff members are resigning and we want to replace them with inferior, inferior what? Inferior is a hate statement, every time I go to Abuja, they show me the petitions, the Permanent Secretary showed me one.”

Ukwuoma berated those who claim he has no achievement, saying lack of funds incapacitated the agency.

“Ask those people if any system works without funds. In January last year, our salaries were stopped. That is… every money coming to this agency was stopped.  In March, they restored the salary but no grant. So now, we are working as pensioners, no overhead, and no capital.

“How then do we make progress? This seat that I am using, I bought it with my personal money because I am having waist pain and needed this orthopedic chair. Every effort made to get involved with one MOU or the other is frustrated. Should I go and sell my father’s house and bring the money to run the agency?”

The director said those who left did so for greener pastures because the university system pays better remuneration than a research institute.

“It is an open system, like a market place people come in and go; now there are some allowances that the university pays that a research institution will not pay and all the people that left entered the university.

“They went for greener pastures. They saw better opportunities. It is a normal thing and there is nobody that left here that has not entered the university.”

Pensioners in Ekiti State are complaining about the harrowing experience they are going through during the ongoing verification organised by the government.

Some of the pensioners criticised the request for their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) in the forms given them to fill, wondering what the government wanted to do with the numbers.

They lambasted the Ayo Fayose administration for not making provisions for their conveniences at the verification centre as they were made to look like “refugees” and “beggars” in the demand of their rights.

A visit to the Nigeria Union Pensioners (NUP) state secretariat at Oke Oriomi, Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday revealed a pitiable sight of retirees struggling under dehumanising conditions in their bid to get verified.

Details to be supplied by the pensioners include their names, pension numbers, date of retirement, last duty post, post at retirement, Salary Grade Level, monthly pension, account number, bank name BVN, identity number, telephone number and next of kin.

The old men and women, who thronged the state capital from within and outside the state, caused a traffic gridlock in the area as their huge number overwhelmed the vicinity.

Some of them, who were too old to walk, were led to the centre by their children and relations. There were pushing and shoving in both the new and old NUP buildings located opposite each other.

Many of the pensioners who could not stand the heat inside the buildings sat outside and loitered around. The rowdy situation prompted the officials in charge to ask some of the pensioners to go outside so as not to record any casualty.

The pensioners asked for the decentralisation of the exercise and that they should be attended to based on the banks they use rather than crowding them under the same roof.

One of the pensioners, Mrs. Bosede Ogunbolade, said the hall used for the exercise was stuffy.

“This place is stuffy, if they don’t want old people to die waiting for their benefits, they should decentralise this exercise to make it easier. They are just punishing us unjustly and they have forgotten that they too are coming to join us,” Mrs. Ogunbolade said.

Pa Kayode Oladimeji accused the Fayose administration of inefficiency in handling their affairs. He said what was needed was the proper computerisation of their data as they had been subjected to several verification.

Mrs. Nike Obatayo said: “They are treating us like animals; they are supposed to put orderliness into it. Some of us have arthritis and going through this will compound our pains.”

Mrs. Bolade Ojo said: “We are suffering in silence, they are just punishing us. Oga reporter please let the whole world know that they are punishing pensioners in Ekiti State.”

Another pensioner, Mrs. R.D. Ojo who claimed that she came all the way from Lagos for the exercise said she had lost interest because of the “haphazard” way the process was organized.

She said: “These are fathers and mothers and for them to be treating us, old people like this shows that they don’t respect old age. I came from Lagos for this verification and I am going back because there is no possibility of doing it today and tomorrow.

Pa Segun Oluwole said: “Bringing all these old men and women from their villages without proper arrangement for them is unbecoming of a state that calls itself state of learned people.”

One of the officials attending to the pensioners, Chief Israel Ayeni, former state NUP Chairman said the verification exercise was organised to know the actual number of pensioners.

Reacting to complaints on request for BVNs of the pensioners, Ayeni said: “Everybody having an account must have a BVN because the government will use the banks to pay them their benefits.”

 

The Lagos State government has begun the distribution of welfare packages to pensioners.

Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions Akintola Benson Oke, who spoke at the launch in Epe, said the development was a demonstration of the government’s commitment to ensure that the needs of senior citizens are met.

Oke added that pensioners in the various local governments and local council development areas will benefit from the packages, which include food items.

He explained that efforts are on to reduce the age of beneficiaries to 65 for more retirees to benefit.

According to him, “the government through the Civil Service Pensions Office will continue to ensure that public service retirees, not only receive what is due to them statutorily, but also gain from specially designed programmes and policies by the government in terms of support and assistance that will add value to their lives in retirement”.

State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Wasiu Balogun hailed the government for its support and assistance to pensioners.

A retiree, Mrs. Omojole Iyabo, hailed the government for the gesture, saying it was a welcome initiative at eradicating poverty among pensioners and improving their well-being.

Retired civil servants in Ondo State under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) have given a four-day ultimatum to the government to pay their outstanding arrears.

The senior citizens said the government owes retirees N15 billion besides their monthly gratuities.

They said if by tomorrow their August pension was not paid, they would march on the streets.

The pensioners said the ultimatum became imperative because efforts to reach the government were not successful.

The NUP Secretary, Akure Chapter, Funso Odere, noted that none of its members who had retired since 2011  has received any gratuity.

Odere accused the state government of deducting money from their account, which he claimed was illegal.

According to him”they said the money is being paid to a consultant who is in charge of remittal. It is the  government that should pay the consultant and not the pensioners.

“They should stop this illegal deduction and pay back all the money deducted from our pension.

“Some pensioners, who retired years ago, are being paid N50,000 whereas those who retired this year are paid N80,000.

“We want the government to harmonise us. You can’t imagine a permanent secretary, who laid the foundation for the old Ondo State, being paid N50,000 while those who retired this year earn over N350,000.

“Some pensioners retired early this year, especially those who retired between January and August, have not been paid. The government paid one month instead of eight months.

“We are suffering in silence in Ondo State. Many died because they cannot afford to buy drugs. We want the government to look into our plight.”