..From Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan…
Worried by the unpaid pension allowances and gratuities to its over five million members all over the Federation, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has threatened a showdown with the Federal, State and the various Local Governments , as the 2015 general elections in the country gather momentum.
Specifically, the Union in the South West geo-political zone of Nigeria claimed that all the six state Governments in the zone, without exception, are owing their civil pensioners and retired Primary School teachers billions of naira in gratuities.
Representatives of the Pensioners from the six states in the South West zone besieged the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Agodi-Gate, Ibadan on Monday for a mass rally at which they resolved to use their teeming membership figure to advantage in determining who will govern the country in the next round of elections.
Addressing journalists at the rally, the South West Zone Chairman of the NUP, Alhaji Nojeem Ibrahim declared that “even though pensioners cannot go on strike, they are in a position to use their incessant activities including demonstrations, to expose the mindless corruption in governance and, in effect, further dip the battered image of the country.”
The NUP chairman lamented that both Lagos and Osun State Governments led the pack of “the most Pensioner-unfriendly Governments in the zone.”
He accused Lagos State Government of still owing the pensioners three years of the 142% pension increase that was supposed to have been paid since year 2000, adding that Governor Babatunde Fashola had not even given the 6% and 15% pension increase any placement at all, till date.
In the same vein, the Chairman noted with concern that pensioners in Osun State had, a few days ago, resorted to demonstration “over the insensitivity of Governor Rauf Aregbesola as a result of non-payment of 142% pension (2000) arrears and arrears of 6% and 15%.
“Though, pensioners had been placed in Ogun, Ekiti and Oyo States, these States had not pad the arrears of 6% and 15% to their pensioners in spite of concerted demands by the Union,” the Chairman further hinted.
To ameliorate the sufferings of members, the Chairman called for a hitch-free verification exercise for pensioners between now and the end of April 2014.
He said: “We urge a healthy departure from the rancourous, frustrating and death-inducing verification exercises that were the lot of pensions. We hope the Director-General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD) will use her wealth of experience in organizing a good verification exercise this time around.”
Concluding, he declared: “The pensioners have observed that our problems across the country have been ignored by the concerned Government Agencies and functionaries contrary to the directiveof President Goodluck Jonathan to the Presidential task force on pension grievances. As a result of this, we will mobilize our multi-million members across the country to deliberate seriously on how to vote during the 2015 Presidential election and at the same time, reflect deeply on which governorship candidates to vote for in all the States of the Federation as well.”