FRCN pensioners protest over unpaid benefits in Oyo

Members of the Federal Pensioners Association (FRANPA), on Wednesday, protested against the non-implementation of the minimum wage and palliative awards as approved by the federal government in Ibadan.

The protesters, while displaying the placards with inscriptions such as ‘Radio Nigeria Pensioners: Our Sick Pensioners Need Money, Please Pay Our N32,000 Arrears’, ‘We Are Still Feeding Our Graduates’, among others, lamented over what they described as discrimination against retirees of the parastatals and the agencies of the government.

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It was stated that while the retirees of the ministries have started enjoying the minimum wage as approved by the government, the same cannot be said of their counterparts in the parastatals and the agencies of government.

Leading the protesters, the chairman of the association, Comrade Sola Ogunmola,, in an interview with the newsmen, blamed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria for insensitivity to the plights of the retirees.

He submitted that the retirees of the FRCN are yet to enjoy the minimum wage since it was approved in 2024 by President Bola Tinubu.

“Approaching two years since President Bola Tinubu made the pronouncement of wide-ranging palliative for Nigerian workers across the board to cushion excruciating pains occasioned by the withdrawal of petroleum subsidies, not a kobo of the N25,000 that the policy earmarked for three months for pensioners of the Defined Benefit Scheme and the contributory pension has been released.

“Another case in point was the 20% pension increase of January 2024, which President Tinubu approved, eight months’ accrued arrears to be paid in August of that same year. Not all the DBS pensioners got paid those arrears.

“The most recent in the series of unmerited assaults on DBS pensioners is the non-implementation of the N32,000 added across the board to pensioners’ monthly dues based on the new minimum wage of N72,000, which President Tinubu announced to take effect from July 29, 2024.

“Also, the case of our member in Diaspora is another disturbing matter. Many of them could not do their ‘I am alive’ verification online because PTAD has not found a way for them to carry out the exercise. The majority have been struck out of the monthly payroll.

“Even the confirmation of aliveness in foreign lands by our embassies and missions abroad was not recognised. PTAD insists that they must come to Nigeria for the exercise.

“We are appealing to the federal government to intervene in this matter, as our members can no longer meet their daily obligations.

“Also, many of them have been financially incapacitated to the extent of not being able to pay their hospital bills,” he said.

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