Comrade Olusegun Abatan, Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Oyo State Branch, in this interview, discusses how Governor ‘Seyi Makinde’s administration has transformed the welfare of pensioners, tackled the long-standing burden of pension and gratuity debts, and where the state’s pensioners stand on the recent pension review by the government.
PENSIONERS have always been in the habit of demonstrating against state governors over their plight. But that has not been the case with Governor ‘Seyi Makinde. Why?
Oyo State pensioners cannot demonstrate against Governor ‘Seyi Makinde, because there have been governors and there have been governors, he has proven to be completely different. I was not yet with the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, during the time that Alhaji Lam Adesina was governor, but I have always been an active part of the NUP since the time of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja. I was there through the tenures of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and Senator Abiola Ajimobi and I am still here now, so I should be able to compare and tell you that Makinde has been completely unlike the others.
If I would go down the memory lane, the problem our pensioners had started from the time that Senator Rasidi Ladoja was governor of the state. During that time, many things were wrong; many of the entitlements of pensioners were not paid and when they were eventually paid, the government would be asking for feedback from the field. Like how the pensions were paid and all that and before this return would come around, many months would have lapsed without paying pensions. So, that was when arrears of pension started mounting.
Another thing was that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states clearly that anytime salaries of workers are reviewed upward, pension should also be increased; or every five years, whichever comes first. If it is the salary of workers that comes first, you must do that of pensioners as well and if it has not come and there is a lapse of about five years, you must do that of pensioners.
There are two provisions of the constitution to that effect; Section 210 Subsection 3 and Section 3, Subsection 173. Unfortunately in Oyo State, considering the implementation, this position was observed in the breach. So, pensioners’ pensions remained static.
At that time, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was president and there was a 150 per cent pension increase, there was a 30 per cent pension increase and a 142 per cent pension increase but all these were not done in Oyo State. In fact, Ladoja was not even willing to hear anything about the 142 per cent increase. So, we started agitations, which went up to the time of Alao-Akala. During Alao-Akala’s tenure, we were able to get the 150 per cent, 32 per cent and 142 per cent pension increases done.
The other issue that led to heightened agitations during Alao-Akala’s tenure was that there were some pensioners who were already on the payroll but whose names were removed by a company. There was a plethora of expectations from the pensioners, which were also not met and these brought about massive demonstrations. We even did a teleconference from my office, with the whole world watching me.
We also took the government of Alao-Akala to court and the court said the 142 per cent increment should be honoured. We took about four issues to court then – the arrears of 150 per cent, 30 percent, 142 per cent and one other. But Alao-Akala did not pay the arrears of 142 per cent before Ajimobi came on board.
However, Ajimobi was smart; he saw what happened between pensioners and Senator Ladoja on the one hand and between pensioners and Alao-Akala on the other. We were always locking down the Secretariat during their tenures, sometimes as early as 5 a.m. So, Ajimobi tried to learn from that and he was smart by meeting with us when he became governor. He agreed to pay the 142 per cent arrears, which was a serious problem then. That was the gimmick he used to get us and we thought he was a governor that loved us.
Unfortunately, he was not friendly with the retired primary school teachers. He said they did not vote for him; that they should go and meet the person they voted for to pay them their gratuities. So, for eight years, the gratuities of retired primary school teachers were not paid by Ajimobi. Alao-Akala left a debt of N2 billion in pension arrears and gratuities. But, because Ajimobi did not pay gratuities for eight years, that debt increased to N43 billion.
At some point, we also took the government of Ajimobi to court and the court gave the verdict that the state government should be paying N250 million every month to offset the gratuities. That was what Governor Seyi Makinde met on the ground.
You have traced the history of pensioners’ faceoff with the state government, so how did Makinde escape that Sword of Damocles?
With Governor Makinde, we have a lot to rejoice about. When he came on board, the first thing he did on the day he was sworn-in was marvellous – he pronounced that his salaries would be committed to paying pensioners in Oyo State. We were all happy. These were retired teachers who did not get their gratuities for eight years, whose pensions were also paid in percentages to the extent that the pension for a month was paid three times. You can imagine that kind of wickedness.
Before Governor Makinde was sworn-in on May 29, 2019, the state government was already planning to pay pensions and the civil servants that had been paying only 30 per cent pensions to pensioners prepared another 30 per cent and presented it to Governor Makinde. We learnt that he was annoyed and he returned the file to the civil servants and told them to prepare a full pension. So, from the first month that he took office, he has been paying full pensions.
If it was not wickedness, where did Makinde get the full payment he has been making to pensions? Whereas, the money Makinde was getting was not up to 50 per cent of what those people were getting then. This is because the mindset is different.
Remember that I also said that the court ruled that the government should be paying N250 million to offset the gratuities of our members. As I speak to you, Seyi Makinde has not defaulted for one month to pay that money.
He did another great thing last year, precisely on July 6, 2024, a day to my birthday. He called me to his office and told me that he would increase the N250 million to N500 million and I was shocked. I then asked him about the N250 million that he was paying as gratuity to the Ministry of Establishment and Training for gratuities of pensioners in the mainstream and he said he had also increased that too to N500 million.
So, as I speak to you, the governor is paying N1 billion every month to offset gratuities. These gratuities were owed by past governments.
When Governor Makinde came on board, gratuities of pensioners were not paid as far back as 2008 and since he came in 2019 he has reduced that deficit from 2008 to 2015. In some cases such as local government and primary school retirees, he has paid gratuities up to 2016. What I am trying to say is that Governor Makinde is the one clearing the indebtedness of past governments. If those who were governors in 2008, 2009 up to 2019 had the mindset of Makinde, we won’t be talking of pension and gratuity arrears. We will be talking about another thing.
Again, before he became governor, pensions were not paid along with salaries of workers. The state government always paid pensioners after the workers must have been paid. Sometimes, they even forgot that there were some people in one corner called pensioners. But immediately Makinde came, workers and pensioners earned their salaries and pensions on the same day, which is on or before the 25th day of every month.
The governor also did another thing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Federal Government wanted him to shut down the state and he refused, he gave palliatives to residents of the state. He gave workers and we were surprised that he also gave palliatives to pensioners. And, when we heard the ‘subsidy is gone,’ in 2023, a decision that was not well-thought-out by the current president of Nigeria and the whole country went into a problem and there was the need to help workers and pensioners, Governor Makinde again rose to the occasion. Even though some people didn’t want the pensioners to be assisted, the governor paid each pensioner a N15,000 wage award every month for a whole year. Many states did not do this and in states where they did it, it was just done for three to four months and it stopped. But Makinde paid pensioners N15,000 per month for 12 months.
Pensioners that were earning one thousand naira a month as pension because the past governors in Oyo State refused to do the needful by releasing pension as and when due; some were even earning N350, were paid N15,000 monthly.
So, Governor Makinde has cleared gratuity from 2008 to 2016?
Yes. In fact, that man is wonderful. Do you know what he did again? When Mrs Olubanwo Adeosun was the Secretary to the State Government, she invited me and said Governor Makinde said that he came into office in 2019 and he has been paying gratuity arrears owed by past governors. He said that he would want to open another window of gratuity payment for pensioners, particularly for those pensioners that retired or would retire during his administration from 2019 to 2027. He opened another window for gratuity payment. So, as I am speaking to you, the governor has paid the indebtedness of the past governors from 2008 to 2016, and he has started his own payment from 2019 to 2020/2021.
When I was told that the governor would do that, I was happy and I supported it. Before he leaves office, I am sure he would have cleared all the indebtedness to pensioners. He said it during my birthday. A day before my birthday, they brought the calculation of the indebtedness to pensioners and it was running to over N200 billion and he promised that he would vacate the indebtedness on or before 28 of May 2027. That will be huge and marvellous.
So, the prayer of pensioners in Oyo State is that God should keep the family of Engr. Seyi Makinde and grant him the desires of his heart. We are also praying that God should also give us somebody like Makinde from 2027 and we hope so.
How did the recent pension review for which pensioners have continued to hail Governor Makinde come about?
By the time the Oyo State Government wanted to do a salary review with a view to implementing the new minimum wage, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) was carried along. We were there and we also wanted to know whether the committee would do something for the pensioners. But each time we met and asked what would be done for pensioners, they told us something would come for us. When we finished the consequential adjustment for workers, I asked again what was on the ground for pensioners and somebody said they had approved 25 per cent of pension for pensioners. I was taken aback.
In some states like Ondo, Ogun and Osun, the least amount the pensioners are earning is between N20,000 and N30,000. It was at that point that I wrote to His Excellency, complained bitterly and narrated everything to him so that he could come to our aid. Meanwhile, I had submitted a table for pension review for the first time in this country. Pensioners don’t have a table for pensions review in this country. So, I did it and sent it to the governor and he accepted it. He called me back and said he had decided that the least paid pensioner in Oyo State would be earning N25,000. Imagine people that were earning N350 or N1,000, the governor started giving them N25,000 as minimum pension.
He then said that the increases that have not been factored into our pension that I submitted in that table should also be factored into the pension of other pensioners. The increases factored in include the 33 per cent increase, which was supposed to have been implemented for the pensioners in the year 2010. Makinde was not the governor then but he did it. Also, the consequential adjustment that was done in 2019 was not done for pensioners in Oyo State and he said we should add it.
Last year, at the federal level, the Federal Government through the Salary and Wages Commission issued a circular saying that 20 per cent should be worked out for pensioners across the board and the governor approved that too. In September 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said that based on the increase of workers’ salary from N30,000 to 70,000, pensioners should also be given N35,000 across the board. Makinde gave us N17,500 out of that N35,000 and we collected it. So, that is what made the pensioners in Oyo State have enough money as pension and that is what made us come for the ‘Rally of Gratitude’. If you look at what I have been telling you, you will observe that it was worth it.
As I said that day, with what the governor has done for the pensioners in Oyo State, Oyo State pensioners now earn more than other state pensioners in the country.
Are there proofs for that statement?
Yes. The N35,000 that the president said should be paid to all pensioners across the board, the president has not implemented it for federal pensioners but Governor Makinde has approved N17,500 for us. We are earning more than other pensioners in all the 36 states we have in the country. The reason is this, when other state governments were doing pension review, some gave N25,000 as minimum pension and gave it across board, irrespective of your position. Some gave N30,000 across board, the Federal Government gave N40,000 across board but with tax. They gave them N40,000 with the right hand and then took taxes of over N7,000 or even N8,000 in some cases through the left hands. They have not even done the N35,000 that they promised pensioners at the federal level as I speak to you.
Is NUP apolitical?
Yes, we are very apolitical. We don’t support any political party. What we do is that when we see an Omoluabi and we see that such a person will have the milk of human kindness and pay attention to the plight of pensioners, we support such a person irrespective of his political party. There is no party the NUP is aligning with but we can like an individual, and Governor Makinde has given us that. I said it earlier that we will not take anybody on the premise that he belongs to one party or the other. We want to see the antecedents of anybody we want to go for, but not his party.
NUP did not vote for Seyi Makinde because he is in the PDP. We voted for him because we believe he is an Omoluabi and he has proven us right.
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