Letters

Passionate appeal to Oyo State govt on behalf of BCOS retirees

ON behalf of all other silent retirees of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), I hereby appeal to the Oyo State Government under the able leadership of Engr Seyi Makinde to kindly make the payment of gratuities to the retirees of the corporation a top priority.

Not only that, the current practice of paying gratuities in installments to BCOS retirees should stop as it defeats the purpose for which the money is meant. Gratuities are supposed to be paid to retired officers who have worked for the government for 35 years or after working and attaining the age of 60 years. It is very sad to report that BCOS retirees are being paid their gratuities in installments instead of being paid at once like other categories of Oyo State civil servants and teachers. Some retirees of BCOS are being paid installments in the neigbourhood of N100,000 as the first installment while others who are lucky may be paid N150,000, N200,000 or N300,000.

This is grossly unfair as the rule guiding retirement of civil servants states that ‘gratuity should be paid to a deserving retiree when it is a month to his or her retirement’ in order to assist the concerned worker to venture into a private business so as not to make life difficult for the concerned retiree.

Many BCOS retirees still have children in higher institutions where they are paying school fees. Some are not physically healthy and need medical treatment. The gratuities usually end up being used in purchasing foodstuffs only instead of for the execution of meaningful projects which will raise the standard of living of the retiree.

We are appealing to the Oyo State Government to be magnanimous enough to cancel the installment payment of gratuities to BCOS retirees and start paying them in full at once. Some of us are living in penury despite being entitled to gratuities.

It is on record that Governor Makinde established the regular payment of state workers’ salaries and pensions in Oyo State. His name can never be forgotten in the annals of history. The economic crisis with the attendant galloping inflationary trend in our country is really affecting BCOS retirees negatively. We appreciate the governor for his caring attitude to governance.