The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Pensioners

  • Abia pensioners protest non-payment of five-month arrears

    Scores of Abia State pensioners yesterday protested the non-payment of their pensions in the last five months.

    The pensioners carried leaves and old bags as they marched on Umuahia, the state capital, at noon.

    Though the protest was peaceful, a police patrol team, led by John Madu, a Deputy Superintendant (DSP), tried to stop the pensioners from moving into the city to avoid hoodlums hijacking it.

    For several minutes, Madu tried to convince the pensioners to leave the road and stop obstructing traffic flow because a roundabout in the area serves motorists plying the Aba, Bende and Umuwaya roads.

    But the protesters refused.

    Motorists had to manoeuvre their way of the situation.

    The state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Chief Augustus Ikechukwu, told reporters that the pensioners had been living on promises and empty stomachs in the last five months.

    He said: “How can we eat? How can we train our children? Christmas is fast approaching. Pensioners have come under intense pressure to meet up with the demands of the Yuletide season.”

    The NUP chairman said the pensioners would only be pacified if they were paid at least three months arrears from the outstanding five months.

    Ikechukwu added: “It is the only way we will slow down in our agitation for our pension to be paid for the time being.”

    The Chairman of the state pension’s board, Chief Dan Egbogu, told reporters that the pensioners were being owed because of ongoing verification to ascertain authentic pensioners and the fakes.

    The board chairman said the government has been contending with bloated wage bills and pensions.

    He noted that there was need to streamline the payroll “so that at the end of the verification, what comes to us as wage bills will be a realistic figure we can work with”.

    Egbogu added: “Once the governor is able to establish that he is not releasing money to ghost workers and pensioners, the problem will be solved. I appreciate the difficulties that pensioners are facing and I sympathise with them. But they should be patient. We are working towards solving the problem.”

     

  • We’ll pay pensioners, says Bayelsa

    The Bayelsa State Government has pledged to pay all outstanding entitlements to pensioners.

    It condemned moves by some unscrupulous elements to defraud the state by capitalising on the uncoordinated manner the payment was done in the past.

    The government said it has put machinery in place to ensure that outstanding gratuities, most of which were inherited from past administrations, are paid.

    In a statement, the governor’s media aide, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said while the government sympathises with the affected pensioners, it was uncomfortable with their subtle threat.

    The pensioners had given the government a two-week ultimatum to pay their entitlements.

    Iworiso-Markson said: “We assure our pensioners for the umpteenth time that we are concerned about their plight and the government is working assiduously to ensure prompt payment of outstanding gratuities.

    “We have before us the report of the committee instituted by the government to look into the matter and will soon take actions that will be in the interest of not just the pensioners, but the state as a whole.

    “We urge genuine pensioners to be patient with the government, as all their entitlements would be paid to the last kobo. We will do the right thing.

    “The issue of non-payment of pensioners’ gratuities predates this administration. In fact, records in the Government House clearly show that pensioners were last paid in 2005.

    “It is one of the several liabilities and challenges that this administration inherited from past administrations and it will not be fair for the pensioners to pin this problem on us.

    “It is glaring that we are making spirited efforts to right the wrongs of past administrations, since government is a continuum. Our resolve to plug all loopholes and corrupt channels used to siphon money out of the state should be encouraged by all.

    “It will surprise you that most of the N3.5 billion unpaid gratuities claims were cooked up. Upon verification, a number of names on the list were fictitious.

    “We cannot continue to condone the perpetration of fraud by syndicates, who are bent on defrauding the system by exploiting the greed of a few corrupt civil servants.

    “As far as this administration is concerned, it is no longer business as usual. Every fraud in the system will be flushed out and the culprits will face the music.”

     

  • Anambra police pensioners protest unpaid arrears

    •63 die of ‘starvation’
    •National Assembly, Obi petitioned

     

    Some retired police officers in Anambra State yesterday protested at Amawbia over the non-payment of their 15 months’ pension arrears from the Federal Government and the Police Pension Service Commission.

    The Chairman of the Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria (APRON), Chief Harold Chike Onyeonwu, a retired Deputy Superintendent (DSP), told reporters that they had not been paid their pension since August, last year.

    He wondered why the pensions should be withheld, despite the fact that the verification of pensioners was done in July, last year.

    Onyeonwu said at the last count, over 100 pensioners had died of starvation.

    The state chapter of the APRON said it has the records of 63 deaths of its members.

    The union leader said those without records of their deaths did not make formal entries with APRON but heard about their deaths informally.

    He said the families of the deceased members were being tossed up and down for the entitlements of their late breadwinners.

    Onyeonwu urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to intervene in the matter to save the pensioners, many of who he said are on danger list.

    The APRON Chairman was with the Administrative Secretary of the union, Mr Nwobi Bernard, and another executive member, Chief Charles Onyechi, as well as Chief Chris Nnaemeka and Chief Godwin Obiorah.

    The union petitioned the National Assembly, urging its leadership to prevail on the Pension Office and the Police Service Commission to pay their arrears.

    The retired policemen also appealed to Anambra State Governor Peter Obi to make President Goodluck Jonathan intervene on the matter.

    He recalled that the police pensioners in the state converged at the police command on November 28 to protest the alleged ill-treatment meted out to them by the Federal Government and the Pension Office in the last 15 months.

    Onyeonwu wondered why a police commissioner who retired before 2006 should be paid a N93, 069.55 a month pension; an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), N57,953.06; an Inspector, N27,722.85; a Constable N5,560.

    According to him, their colleagues, who retired after the period under review, collect 10 times their pensions.

     

  • Pensioners want Pension Taskforce dissolved

    • Protest non-payment of arrears

     

    The Joint Committee of Associations of Federal Pensioners has called for the dissolution of the Pension Task Force, saying it has created more problems for pensioners.

    The body is also seeking the creation of a civilian pensions board.

    The older citizens held a peaceful demonstration recently to protest the non-payment of their pension arrears.

    They staged the protest outside the Office of the Head of Service at the Federal Secretariat. The pensioners blocked major roads leading to the secretariat; this resulted in traffic gridlock in the area.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Pension Reform Task Team, Mr Hassan Salihu, however, said the pensioners did not contact them before embarking on the protest.

    He said pensioners’arrears were being paid in batches after vetting of their claims by the task team.

    He said all genuine pensioners would be paid as the Federal Government had adequate funds to pay them, but the pensioners said the demonstration would not stop until the Federal Government meet their demands.

    The Chairman of the committee, Mr James Bassey, said some pensioners had been short-changed in the payment of their gratuities.

    “Due to wrong calculations of their terminal benefits, using wrong grade levels and steps, some pensioners have yet to be placed on the monthly payroll for their pension allowances since leaving the service,’’ he said.

    Bassey quoted the Director-General of Budget Office of the Federation as saying that funds had not been released to cover the payment of increment in the allowances of pensioners.

    President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 approved the upward review of allowances of pensioners by 53.4 per cent.

    But Bassey said money for payment of arrears to pensioners had not been released because they are waiting to clear ghost pensioners from the pension payroll.

    “We were told severally that the civil service is trying to sort out the ghost workers in the service; it is not enough reason for the delay in paying salaries and the Jonathan Award,’’ he said.

    Bassey stressed the need for the government to sanitise pension management and administration, adding that it would enhance the welfare and well-being of pensioners in the country.

    He called for the dissolution of the Pension Task Force, saying it had accumulated more problems for the pensioners instead of solving them.

    “We request for the dissolution of this pension task force while immediate consideration is given for the creation of a civilian pensions board.’’

    Also speaking, Mr Ehada Mohammed, who represented the General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Mr Actor Zal, said the pensioners were only trying to ensure that their problem was addressed.

    He also said: “We believe that what we are doing is the right thing and this is the only way to address the issue so that we can recover our money fast after all the delay.’’