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Pensioners Accuse South-West Governors Of Deliberately Withholding Entitlements

January 20, 2022

The pensioners said it was a deliberate attempt by the governors to punish them.

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners has accused governors in the South-West of contravening agreements and flouting the constitution on the payment of consequential adjustment of pensions.

The pensioners said it was a deliberate attempt by the governors to punish them. 

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The retirees asserted that they may be compelled not to vote for those governors that have refused to attend to their suffering and plight.

Speaking with journalists in Osogbo, Osun State, on Thursday, spokesperson for the group in the South-West, Olusegun Abatan, alleged that governors in the zone had refused to pay the consequential adjustment of pensions and some of them were still holding on to the checkup dues of the union.

Abatan said, “In the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is stated that anytime salaries of workers are paid, pensions should also be paid concomitantly or every five years. There was an increase in salaries and wages in 2019 where many state governments entered into an agreement with the NLC in their respective states and the adjustment to salaries and wages were put in place.

“In some other states, there was an agreement that when there was a circular from Abuja in respect of consequential adjustment to pension, the state government should also pay the consequential adjustment.

“The Federal Government has not only adhered to the adjustment, but they have also paid it. The problem we always have is with our state governments.

“It is like the state governors are having a meeting that pensioners should die in penury. They flout the constitutional provision with reckless abandonment. No state in the southwest has addressed the consequential adjustment.

“The way things are going, we may be forced to instruct our members to look and verify those that will be of importance to their lights as we approach the 2023 election. Whoever does not take the plight of pensioners with relish may not be voted for. We did it before and it worked.

“It is not fair for somebody who served the nation for 35 years to die in penury while a governor who served one or two terms continue to receive salary for the rest of his life.”