Kwara pensioners appeal to Ahmed on 11 months arrears

NIGERIA Union of Pensioners (NUP), Kwara State branch, has appealed to the state government to pay the 11 months arrears of pension owed local government pensioners in the state from the N5.1 billion Paris Club refund from the federal government.

A statement by the chairman NUP in the state, Alhaji Haliru Mohammed, which was made available to journalists in Ilorin on Monday, however, commended Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for regular payment of  state pensioners’ monthly pension.

Alhaji Mohammed, who said that payment of gratuities of the local government pensioners had accumulated since November 2008, added that payment of gratuities to state pensioners had been stopped since March 2014.

The chairman, Kwara NUP also said that the N1 billion allocated to all the 16 local governments in the state from the N5.1 billion Paris club refund was inadequate “considering huge amount of money involved in the payment of pension arrears and gratuities.

“As a result of the nonpayment of pension arrears and gratuities to local government pensioners in the state, many of them have died while many are hungry, sick and finding it difficult to get money to treat themselves or fulfill their family responsibilities”, he said.

He pledged support and loyalty of all state and local government pensioners in the state to the present administration.