27th January, 2015
It is really disheartening and wicked the manner pensioners who had meritoriously served their fatherland are being subjected to severe hardship. The inability of the federal government to pay their 29-month pension arrears has dashed their hope of survival as things are getting very difficult even for the majority of Nigerians.
Recently, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners called on the federal government to pay its members 29-month arrears of the 33 per cent pension increment owed them by the government. The arrears in question started from July 2010 to September 2014.
The federal government had earlier approved 54 per cent pension increase. Though the government recently paid nine months of the 33 per cent pension increase to the pensioners, the retirees are hoping the government would pay the remaining balance of 20.4 per cent arrears of the pension increase as soon as the 2015 budget is passed.
Priority ought to be given to the welfare of these senior citizens who had dedicated their lives to the service of the nation. Why would their entitlements be delayed for months? Government is always quick to dispel any insinuation that it’s broke but situations like this exposes the lies by government officials and point to the fact that it is either government is starved of funds or fails to use the funds judiciously.
Many of the retirees are too old to seek alternative means of livelihood and so the trauma they are subjected to before getting their entitlements is uncalled for. As a result, some fall sick or die eventually while waiting for their entitlements. It is for this reason that some corrupt civil servants engage in primitive acquisition of wealth while in active service so that by the time they retire, they won’t have to go through the pain of waiting in vain for their pensions to be paid.
We call once again on the federal government to be more committed to the welfare of the retirees.The government should learn from industrialised nations how they administer their pension scheme.