NIPOST Pensioners Protest, Accuse FG Of Withholding Entitlements

By Ayodele Oni

Nigeria Postal Service, (NIPOST), pensioners have protested, accusing the federal government of non-payment of some pension arrears and other entitlements.

Carrying placards with various inscriptions, they blocked the main entrance to the NIPOST office in Akure.

Among outstanding payments, according to them, are N32,000 pension increment, their removal from pension pay list since 2015, and N25,000 palliative of fuel subsidy.

The pensioners described as disheartening that many of them had died for lack of money to take care of their medical bills and other needs.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters,

chairman of the Union of Nipost Pensioners, Ondo State Branch, Stephen Duyilemi said the pensioners were tired of being treated like semi human beings.

He specifically alleged the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), the Federal ministry of Finance and the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, (PTAD), of withholding their entitlements for no justification.

Duyilemi said, “During our screening exercise in 2019 at Osogbo, we submitted some documents to them, which relate to our grievances. Like some people were introduced to pension with short payments of some months.

“Many of us were short paid when we were introduced to pension, while other pensioners were paid on grade level five instead of level 10.

“Then since then, they have not corrected all these mistakes, which we are fighting for. Then especially the government pronounced that N32,000 increment should be paid to us. And since August, when there was threatening, they paid us only one month.

“It has accumulated to nine months now. Then palliatives, which was given to everybody, even to the market women, which is N25,000, they promised us since some years back now, we have not been paid.

“We have some members whose names were omitted from the pay list of PTAD. We are making our grievances known to PTAD that what they are doing to us is wrong. PTAD is responsible for the payment of our pension.

“The 1997 set of pensioners were given a letter of promotion, but they were not paid.

“Since then, they have not implemented the payment of that salary to us, because in 2nd January 2007, another salary structure came out, and we were not based on that salary, and that is what we are fighting for, that if they give us that one, it will even help us, because we buy the same thing from the market.

“Many of us are dead because of lack of money to buy drugs, which caused the problem for many of us that were no longer in life now.

“We are appealing to the government to please look into our request and pay us, even if this message can get to  President Bola Tinubu, to please come to our aid.

“We pensioners are dying gradually. They are killing us by not giving us our rights. What is entitled to us as pensioners? We have served the country for 35 years.”