The Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Ekiti State has faulted the claims by the state government on the release of N200 million for payment of gratuity to members, saying there was no recent disbursement of the amount to the union.
The government through the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Yinka Oyebode, had last weekend in a statement said the pensioners commended the governor for the release of N200 million for the payment of outstanding gratuities.
But the state chairman of NUP, Mr Joel Akinola, while addressing journalists on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, noted that the said amount was released in December 2021 and not recent as claimed in the government’s statement.
He explained that the letter of appreciation by the union which was quoted by the government was long written in January in respect of the N100 million released and not related to N200 million of last year, questioning the intention of the government which he said has caused agitation and unrest among members.
Akinola called on the state government to be sensitive to the plights of the pensioners by paying the backlog of the gratuity amounting to N37 billion, adding that members of the union are daily losing their lives due to lack of proper healthcare, “of which if their gratuity is paid, they will use it to take care of themselves.”
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According to him, “we are here today to correct the misinformation in the public as released by the state government last week that we just received N200 million for gratuity which will write a letter to appreciate the government.
“The truth is, the government released N200 million on December 20, 2021, and we as usual wrote to appreciate the government immediately and point where there are other issues for the government to address.
“In January this year, the government released N100million and we wrote to appreciate but to our dismay, we saw that statement last weekend that we received recently N200 million, quoting our letter on the N100 million of January, that is unfair because our members have been calling and agitating since they heard the statement of the government; you know pensioners are old and expectant people.
“There is nothing recent in the amount and we will continue to appreciate the government for what they have done in the past. But, the government should find a way to source the money for the N37 billion backlog of gratuity and pay us, it is our right and entitlement.”
He clarified that the union has nothing against the government but clamouring for the welfare of the members who had laboured and worked for the state and deserved their entitlement while alive.
“We have nothing against the government but they should continue to assist us because our people are old, expectant and dying. Our case is different from the construction of road and others because it is between life and death, nobody can finish all the road construction in the state. The fact remains that the time left for us on earth is limited,” the NUP chairman said.
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Gratuity: Ekiti pensioners fault Fayemi’s govt over claims on release of N200 million
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