Regrettably, retirees are pleading with Fayemi to clear N40 billion in gratuities prior to handover.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Pensioners in Ekiti State will want outgoing Governor Kayode Fayemi to do one thing before handing over power in two months to the incoming administration.

They expect him to pay more than N40 billion in unpaid gratuities and other benefits.

State retirees were paid in July 2013, while local government retirees were paid in September 2012.

In addition to monthly pensions, retirees are currently owed N37 billion in gratuity arrears.

The pensioners pleaded with the Governor to use his final few months in office to pay off a reasonable portion of the outstanding debt in order to alleviate their suffering.

Despite commending Dr. Fayemi’s administration for increasing the budgeted amount for payment of their benefits from N100 million to N400 million, they insisted that more needed to be done as promised during the election campaign.

During a prayer session to seek the face of God over their plight, Mr. Joel Akinola, chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, lamented the death of 200 members within a year due to inability to meet their basic needs.

“We are crying, and rightly so, because of our anguish, our sufferings, and an unprecedented assault on the psyches of our members in Ekiti State,” he said. Our pride as senior citizens who have faithfully, laboriously, and dutifully served this country is being undermined on a daily basis. Pensioners are being portrayed as failures in their communities, and to make matters worse, a large number of them are being pushed to their graves.

“Many children and families who had spent all of their money on them have abandoned them.” Millions of naira in unpaid pension and gratuity arrears are owed to these abandoned pensioners.

The first stanza of our national anthem begins, “The labor of our heroes past, shall never be in vain.” Pensioners’ labor is now being wasted as a result of the government’s and citizens’ failure to recognize the gravity of their plight.

“The statistics below summarize the state’s debt as of December 2021: Pension arrears of three months for the state and seven months for the local government Gratuities: State pensioners were last paid in July 2013, with liabilities of approximately N18 billion, whereas local government pensioners were last paid in September 2012, with liabilities of approximately N19.8 billion. Consider how much debt will exist in July 2022.”

Mr. Yinka Oyebode, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, stated that the government prioritizes the welfare of not only workers but also pensioners.

He claimed that the government had never owed a single month’s pension since its inception, and that gratuity payments had been increased from N100 million to N400 million. The government would have liked to clear the backlog of gratuities owed by the previous administration, according to Oyebode, but economic realities prevented them from doing so. This should also be considered.