Our ordeal now worse than civil war era —Pensioners

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) marked the 15th edition of the Pensioners’ Day celebration in Abuja, on Monday with lamentations, declaring that pensioners were going through the worst time in the history of the country.

Speaking at the Labour House, Abuja, where the pensioners gathered to make their problems known, president of NUP, Dr Abel Afolayan said what the pensioners were currently going through  is worst than what they experienced during the Nigeria civil war.

“We pensioners are going through the worst of time. Our plight, sickening sight has been made worst due to what the country is going through. Since we were born, and those who were older than me, those who were over 80 years old , we have not experienced this kind of problem.

“The recession this country is going through is very frightening and compounded our problems as pensioners. When I see what the pensioners are going through, I shed tears. There are some pensioners who have not been paid for one year and more.

“I am sad, I am depressed, I am very unhappy and the leadership of our country knows that we are not happy. Mr President (Buhari), too, is unhappy, but the governors do not care whether we die, so far they get their security vote of between N200 and N500 million.

“The only time I can compare with what is going on now is during the civil war. Then, people were not paid for three months, but what we are going through now is worst, when workers were not paid for seven, eight months and pensioners not paid for over one year. It is definitely worst,” the NUP president said.

Dr Afolayan also regretted that the pensioners have been the worst affected by corruption in the country, adding that “we have been at the receiving end.”

“Billions of our money had been stolen, many of those who stole it have not been arrested or prosecuted. They were hidden. Government is shielding them from prosecution. If they can help us retrieve the billions of Naira stolen by these people, they should be able to pay our gratuity and pensions,” he said.

Enumerating some of the challenges of pensioners, the NUP president said thousands of genuine pensioners could not access their monthly pension since the introduction of e-payment in 2009 till date, saying that names of numerous pensioners deliberately deleted from payroll on untenable ground of ghost pensioners are yet to be re-listed and restored.