By Lekan Adejuwon
Pensioners in Ekiti State on Thursday sought divine intervention as a solution to the neglect, suffering and abandonment over outstanding pensions and gratuities, which they said had made life unbearable for them.
The pensioners, who gathered in Ado Ekiti for a prayer conference led by Christian and Islamic clerics, lamented that their unpaid pensions and gratuities had subjected them to untold pains, sufferings, and denials, hence, they resorted to prayer for divine intervention so that their dues would be paid.
The senior citizens called for the establishment of a Ministry of the Elderly and Senior Citizens to serve as an avenue for the pensioners to lay bare their plights to the government.
The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Ekiti State Council, Joel Akinola, said, “Pensioners in Ekiti State have been subjected to pains by the failure of the state government to discharge its obligation to us as and when due.
“As of December 2021, state pensioners are owed pension arrears of three months. Those of the local government are owed seven months of pension arrears. State pensioners are owed gratuities to the tune of N18bn while local government pensioners are owed gratuities to the tune of N19.8bn, totalling N37.8bn. One has to imagine what the indebtedness will be now, in April 2022.
“Gratuities were last paid to state pensioners in July 2013 while it was last paid to local government pensioners in September 2012”.
He said delay in the payment of gratuities to pensioners had adversely affected the concerned retirees in areas including break up of homes when male pensioners could no longer meet their domestic obligations; untimely deaths of retirees who could not afford to pay for medical bills; inability to withstand the harsh economic realities; and depression and hopelessness”, among others.
He said, “We are crying and justifiably so given our agonies, sufferings, and an unprecedented assault on the psyches of our members in Ekiti State. Our pride as senior citizens who have faithfully, laboriously, and dutifully served this nation is daily rubbished.
“Pensioners are being portrayed as failures in their communities, and worst of all, they are being accelerated to their graves in no small numbers. Many are languishing in their homes in debilitating conditions. We are not exaggerating. Unfortunately, the entire citizenry is feeling unconcerned. What a tragedy!
“Many have been abandoned by children and families who had exhausted their financial resources on them. These abandoned pensioners are being owed billions of naira through unpaid arrears of pensions and gratuities!!!
“Part of the first stanza of our National Anthem says ‘the Labour of our Heroes past shall not be in vain. Pensioners’ labour is now being made to be in vain by the failure of governments and the citizenry to comprehend the seriousness of their plight.”
