PROTESTING KWARA RETIREES THREATEN 2019 ELECTIONS BOYCOTT OVER UNPAID PENSIONS, GRATUITIES
PROTESTING
KWARA RETIREES THREATEN 2019 ELECTIONS BOYCOTT OVER UNPAID PENSIONS, GRATUITIES
Nigerian
pensioners used to illustrate the story
Hundreds of pensioners in Kwara on Tuesday embarked on a
peaceful protest in Ilorin, threatening to boycott the 2019 elections, if the
state government failed to settle their over N50 billion unpaid pensions and
gratuities.
The
pensioners, including those from the 16 local government areas of the state and
primary school teachers, carried placards of various inscriptions, demanding
for the immediate settlement of their unpaid entitlements.
The News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that they gathered in front of the State
Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), located in the
Commissioners’ Lodge Way, Government Reserved Area (GRA) in Ilorin.
NAN
reports that they defied the heavy rainfall, chanting anti-government songs to
express their displeasure with the state government.
The
retirees, mostly old women and physically-challenged, also displayed their
permanent voter cards during the protest, vowing not to participate in the
elections, unless the state government met their demands.
Saidu
Oladimeji, the State Chapter chairman of NUP, said that they resorted to
protest as they could no longer endure the hardship.
Mr
Oladimeji said the state government had since March 2014 stopped the payment of
gratuities to retired workers, which he said, had increased the poverty level
and led to untimely death of many pensioners.
He added
that retirees from the local government areas had not been collecting
gratuities since 2008, saying, “they have been taking amputated pensions since
2008”.
The
chairman also accused the state government of non-implementation of the 20 per
cent of the salary increase harmonisation to workers that retired ahead of May
1, 2010 in the16 council areas and teachers under the State Universal Basic
Education Board (SUBEB).
“We are
demanding the full payment of the mutilated monthly pensions to retirees from
the local government areas which had entered 10 months now with negative
impacts on the lives of the retired workers,’’ he said.
The pensioners chairman appealed to the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and
the governor, AbdulFatah Ahmed, to fulfill their pledges of settling the unpaid
gratuities and pensions before the end of September.
In his
reaction, Muideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on
media and communications, said the state government was aware of the
pensioners’ plights.
According
to him, the state government will assist the local governments to clear all the
arrears as soon as it receives the expected cash inflows.
He said
that payment of the arrears of gratuities was almost over.
