TheNewsGuru

Tag: Pensioners

  • Osun pensioners lock up state secretariat over unpaid arrears

    Pensioners in Osun State on Friday stormed the State Secretariat and locked up workers in continuation of their protest to press home demand for payment of their pension arrears and gratuities.

    The pensioners started the fresh protest on Thursday and continued early Friday morning before workers could arrive for work.

    The protesters locked the main gate as well as the second gate thereby preventing workers from going inside.

    The pensioners chanted war song. Some of them blocked the gates, while others lined up with placards beside the main road raining abuses on the governor.

    Policemen, operatives of the Department of State Services and Nigeria Security and Civil Defeñce Corps were deployed to ensure that the protest is not hijacked.

    One of the leaders of the pensioners, Mr. Yemi Lawal, told journalists that they would not allow any worker to go inside the Secretariat

    He said the state government was owing them 12-month pensions and the gratuities of those who retired between 2008/and 2012 had not been paid.

    He accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of planning to divert the second tranche of N12,7 billion Paris Club loan refund.

  • Pensioners beg FG to pay pension, salaries before Sallah

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, on Tuesday urged Federal and state governments to pay pension and workers salaries before the Sallah festival.

    The union said in statement issued in Abuja by its General Secretary, Mr Actor Zal that the gesture would ease current hardship and allow pensioners and workers celebrate the event without hassle.

    It particularly noted that most pensioners depend solely on their paltry pensions to meet their financial obligations.

    The union lauded the acting President, Prof. Yemi Oshibajo for the recent release of funds for their payment, and urged for similar release of their pension for June.

    It stressed that state governments should also make prompt payment of pensions and salaries a priority especially during festivals.

    The union said that pensioners and workers have spent their little savings observing the Ramadan fast and have little or nothing left to celebrate the Sallah.

    “We believe that this is a listening government and we are sure the government will accede to our request so that our people can have cause to smile during the celebration,” it added.

    (NAN)

  • Edo pensioners urged to revalidate documents

    Edo pensioners urged to revalidate documents

    In a bid to harmonize and prevent fraudulent collection of pension across the state, the government of Edo State, has called for eligible pensioners to turn up for the revalidation and biometrics exercise ongoing in the state. According to a statement from the Office of the Chief Press Secretary (interim), the exercise is code-named ‘I Am Alive’.

    “The one-week verification process will run from June 12 until June 16 this year, and will take place at the respective Local Government Headquarters in the state”.

     

    The statement said, “All the pensioners needed for the verification exercise were their Pensioner’s Identity cards, biometric slip and pension authority letter”.

     

    However, it said pensioners in Oredo should not go to the Local Government Headquarters, but to Imaguero College in Benin City for their verification.

  • Niger has no record of pensioners – DG

    Niger has no record of pensioners – DG

    Niger State has no record of its pensioners and that is making it difficult to meet its obligations to retirees, according to Alhaji Usman Mohammed, Director-General, Niger State Pension Board.

    “There are no records; this has militated against a smooth take-off since I assumed office in 2016,” Mohammed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Minna on Sunday.

    He regretted that records of pensioners were not available, “especially at local government pension units where there are no reference files”.

    The Director-General said that the first thing he did was to design a system where all the files they met on ground were numbered, in conjunction with local government audit units.‎

    “The files we numbered were in thousands and that affected our speed,” he said.
    ‎
    The official said that the board had already discovered 50 recycled files and had marked them out for “special scrutiny”.

    He disclosed that Gov. Abubakar Bello had mandated the Auditor-General verify all payments to pensioners so as to ascertain the true figure government would work with.

    “When that report is submitted, a lot of weeding will be carried and that will ease our job,” he said.

  • Pay us our 77 months salary arrears, Imo pensioners tell Okorocha

    Pay us our 77 months salary arrears, Imo pensioners tell Okorocha

    …no pensioners protested, those parading themselves as pensioners are within the active age, CPS alleges

    Following months of accumulated salary arrears owned pensioners in Imo State, scores of pensioners in the State, on Thursday embarked on a peaceful protest to press home their demands.

    The aggrieved pensioners barricaded the Okigwe road as well as the entrance to Government House, Owerri.

    Led by their state Chairman, Chief Gideon Ezeji, the pensioners called on the State Governor, Rochas Okorocha to explain what he did with the bail out fund the state received from the federal government.

    They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the State Governor Rochas Okorocha to order.

    Ezeji said Okorocha “behaves and treats senior citizens in the state disrespectfully.

    “Okorocha derives joy in seeing elders in this state come out from time to time to the streets to ask for their pension.

    “What did Okorocha do with the bailout fund that President Buhari gave to him? We are protesting for the third time.”

    The aggrieved pensioners said it was wicked of Okorocha’s government to plan to pay 40 percent of the accumulated arrears and gratuities while making them to forfeit 60 percent of their arrears.

    “We say no to this latest government’s plan to deny us the payment of 60 percent of arrears up to December.

    “As at December 2016, the state owes Imo pensioners between 22 months and 77 months arrears. Our gratuities have remained unpaid since 1998 till date.

    “Also, the government has refused to harmonize our pensions since 2000 to date. All the efforts by the union overseeing the welfare of pensioners have not yielded any fruit”, they stated.

    Reacting to the allegation, the state government through the Chief Press Secretary of the State Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo said those who embarked on the protest were not pensioners of the state.

    A statement by Onwuemeodo reads partly: “No pensioner in the state was part of that protest.

    “Those involved in the exercise were between the ages of 40-45. And we challenge those involved to prove us wrong by publishing their names, their autonomous communities, local government areas, years of retirement, where they retired from and their identification numbers.”

  • Lagos releases N941m to 228 pensioners in November

    The Lagos State Pension Commission said it paid 228 retirees a total of N941m in November.

    The pensioners, the commission added, were from the state civil service, local governments, and State Universal Basic Education Board, teaching service and pensions office and other parastatals of government.

    “This administration has from August, 2015 to date paid a total of N21.9bn as accrued pension rights to 5,027 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme,” it stated.

    The Director-General, LASPEC, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga, said the retirees needed to take good care of their health by going for comprehensive check-ups, desist from frivolous spending and advised them not to enter into risky ventures.

    She advised the retirees not to desire quick gains as fraudsters would tempt them with offers aimed to defraud them of their benefits.

    Onanuga explained that only Programmed Withdrawal benefit option was tenable presently, pending the time, that life insurance companies open operational account jointly with a Pension Fund Custodian to secure the funds for the provider of annuity services.

    According to her, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, is interested in the welfare of the employees both in and out of office, which is why salary and pension issues are given priority.

    The pensioners expressed gratitude for the timely payment, while also stressing that such gesture should not be stopped midway.