Non-Recent Payment Of N200 Million To Retirees, Ekiti Pensioners Clarify

By Ayodele Oni

The Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Ekiti State has said that the last time government released N200million to members to offset part of their entitlements was last year.

The union was reacting to a statement credited to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Yinka Oyebode that the pensioners acknowledged receipt of N200 million last week from the state government.

State chairman of NUP, Mr Joel Akinola said the statement was far from being true insisting that there was no recent disbursement of any fund to the union.

The issue of non payment of gratuities of retired workers in Ekiti state has become a political matter as virually all the Governorship candidates now solicit for their support during June election with a promise to pay them if elected.

Government statement, is coming at the time former Governor Segun Oni, who is candidate of Social Democratic Party, (SDP) met with the pensioners last week to reassure them of alleviating their plight.

Oni is said to be the only Governor that paid gratuities of pensioners few months after their leaving office, when he was Governor of the state.

Mr Akinola, told journalists on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti, that the said amount was released in December 2021 and not recent as claimed in the government’s statement.

He explained that the letter of appreciation by the union which was quoted by the government was long written in January in respect of the N100 million released and not related to N200 million of last year, questioning the intention of the government which he said has caused agitation and unrest among members.

Akinola called on the state government to be sensitive to the plights of the pensioners by paying the backlog of the gratuity amounting to N37 billion, adding that members of the union are daily losing their lives due to lack of proper healthcare, “of which if their gratuity is paid, they will use it to take care of themselves.”

“We are here today to correct the misinformation in the public as released by the state government last week that we just received N200 million.

“The truth is, that the government released N200 million in December 20, 2021, and we as usual wrote to appreciate the government immediately and raised points on other issues for the government to address.

“In January this year, the government released N100million and we wrote to appreciate but to our dismay, we saw that statement last weekend that we received recently N200 million, quoting our letter on the N100 million of January, that is unfair because our members have been calling and agitating since they heard the statement of the government; you know pensioners are old and expectant people.

“There is nothing recent in the amount and we will continue to appreciate the government for what they have done in the past. But, the government should find a way to source the money for the N37 billion backlog of gratuity and pay us, it is our right and entitlement.

“We have nothing against the government but they should continue to assist us because our people are old, expectant and dying. Our case is different from the construction of road and others because it is between life and death, nobody can finish all the road construction in the state. The fact remains that the time left for us on earth is limited.”

The pensioners had last year disagreed with the state government on percentage to be paid to pension fund administrators, raised by the administration to handle the issue of payment of gratuities to the retirees.