Oni sympathises with Ekiti pensioners over N37bn unpaid gratuities

The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, has sympathised with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in the state over the N37 billion unpaid gratuities by the state government.

The NUP chairman, Mr Joel Akinola, had last week while addressing newsmen said no fewer that 220 pensioners have died in the last six months in the state without getting their entitlement while calling on the government to be sensitive to the plights of the pensioners and pay the outstanding gratuities amounting to N37 billion.

The former governor in a statement by the spokesman of his campaign organisation, Jackson Adebayo, said that people who had served the state meritoriously deserved better treatment than they are getting from the state government.

The former governor who recalled that gratuities of pensioners were accorded utmost priority during his time, “as retirees were being paid promptly, urged the senior citizens not to lose hope as their days of suffering would soon be over.”

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“I want to use this medium to sympathise with Ekiti pensioners over the untimely death of some of their members due to lack of proper medical care occasioned by non-payment of their gratuities.

“A situation where people who had spent their useful years serving their fatherland and retired without receiving their gratuities is not acceptable because as the saying goes, labourers deserve their wages.

“I recalled that when we were in government, pensioners were receiving their gratuities as and when due without any undue delay and protocols.

“I want to assure the pensioners that their plights will soon be a thing of the past if I become the governor of the state because their welfare will be a thing of priority to my government,” Oni said.