*Lament neglect by govt
*Blame NSHA of complicity
By our Correspondent
Pensioners in Nasarawa State are recounting tales of woe, lamenting their plight after leaving service, 35 years after their first working day or upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age.
In an interview with a cross-section of pensioners residing in and around the state capital, Lafia, the senior citizens painted ugly pictures of their present predicaments ranging from hunger as a result of percentage payments to despondency over non-fulfillment of promises by government. Most of them spoke to Nasarawa Eye anonymously for fear of victimisation
Yusuf Babuga (not real name) who said he retired about five years ago from the state Judiciary explained that he has been living from hand to mouth, because his pension, which has been cut to 50 percent can no more last the whole month.
He maintained that the Nigeria Labour Congress had anointed that government would commence payment of gratuities to the retirees on a monthly basis from the beginning of the year, “but up to-date nothing has been done”.
Another retiree, name withheld, told Nasarawa Eye that the plight of pensioners in the state has become quite appalling, because of the 50 percent payment of their pension.
He lamented that since their gratuities could not be paid to them immediately, they are relying solely on their monthly pension, adding that the percentage payment has turned them into “paupers and destitute in our homeland”.
Also speaking, another senior citizen who pleaded anonymity said he was not surprised at the turn of events, “because the state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has shown clearly from the beginning that he didn’t like retirees”.
He wondered why state government workers would be paid their salaries“in full, one hundred percent, regularly, for several months, but the pensioners are still being paid fifty percent”.
All efforts by our correspondent to get official views of the state Pension Bureau in Lafia proved abortive. However, an official of the Bureau who does not want his name in print stated that the state governor is the one responsible for the pensioners’ predicament.
He maintained that both the Bureau and the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) had been doing the best they could to ensure that pensioners get their entitlements as and when due, but have no power over the release of funds for that purpose.
It would be recalled that the Director-General, State Pension Bureau, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Oseze was summoned to the state House of Assembly over the delay in payment of gratuities and the 50 percent cut of the retirees’ pension since September, 2016, but the report of a special committee set up by the lawmakers to investigate the activities of the bureau is yet to be made public, months after the committee had completed its work.