The national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) has appealed to the governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike, over non-payment of backlog of pensions and gratuity owed pensioners in the state.
The pensioners’ leadership further stated that many pensioners are languishing in severe hardship and dying in their numbers.
NUP therefore called on Governor Wike to differentiate himself from other state governors by clearing up all the backlog of pension arrears and about 15 years of unpaid gratuity.
The union also urged the governor to implement the 2019 pension consequential adjustment, approved and implement a 33 per cent pension increase that was due for pensioners in the state since July 2010.
Recall that pensioners in Rivers State recently occupied the State Secretariat, calling on Governor Wike to pay their unpaid pension arrears, gratuity and other entitlements owed them since 2015.
The pensioners also, during the May Day commemoration on Sunday, May 1, 2022, dressed in black apparels and protested the governor’s unfulfilled promise of paying their pensions.
NUP stressed that Nigerians deserve a president who would not close his eyes and ears to the call and plights of the citizens, be it pensioners, workers, etc.
The pensioners’ umbrella body therefore, charged Wike to prove his capability and show Nigerians, starting from pensioners in Rivers State, that the living condition of retirees, workers and the citizens at large would not worsen should he be elected president of Nigeria.
Elder Actor Zal, NUP General Secretary, who spoke to our reporter in Abuja, went on to urge Governor Wike not to add his name on the list of governors in Nigeria who are withholding monies pensioners depend on for their survival.
He went on to say it would be pitiable for Governor Wike, who has been praised by many for his developmental strides in Rivers State, to allow his administration to be reckoned with failure.
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