Akwa Ibom pensioners threaten protest over poor pay

Members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Akwa Ibom State Council, have threatened to embark on mass protests across the streets of the Uyo metropolis over poor payment.

The pensioners said they would block the Government House gates to draw the government’s attention to their plights.

The union had, last week, expressed sadness that some of its members who retired in the 80s were still collecting a paltry sum of N1,000, N1,500, and N2,000 as pension till date.

Addressing journalists on behalf of their members in Uyo on Wednesday, the state Chairman, Mr Ekpeyong Ekpo, and State Secretary, Cosmos Essien, lamented that efforts to get the government’s attention to ameliorate their worsening plight have fallen on deaf ears hence the decision to embark on protest to let the world know their predicament.

Ekpo said, “The sad plight of our members is that those who retired in the 1980s with salaries of N1,000, N1,500, or N2,000 are still collecting such funds as pension till date in Akwa Ibom State.

“Whenever you retire, what is worked out for you remains static, until the 1999 Constitution in Section 173 (3) (2) (10) said explicitly that pension will be reviewed every five years along with whatever increase given to workers. The government here bluntly refused to implement the review.

“Can you imagine that in present-day Nigeria, many of our members are still collecting N2,000 a month, some N1,000 a month, and their current situation is very pathetic. Some don’t have children to care for them, and a few privileged people have while those who have children late are still training them in school.

“When the Akwa Ibom State Government promised us a minimum pension of N20,000 for those who retired before 1997 and N30,000 for those afterward and asked us to inform members across the board, there was jubilation and they also promised to start payment from April 2023 to avoid the accumulation of arrears. However, till date, nothing has been paid. All pressure on the government to implement it failed woefully.

“The arrears they tried to avoid have accumulated. We have been praying, crying, and reaching out to those in government to help but no sign of change, our members are dying daily because they cannot afford drugs, and over 65% of pensioners are hypertensive, and diabetic. To survive in Nigeria presently is very expensive, and our members are no longer coping. We have brought our plight to the government, and they snubbed us.”

However, the union expressed gratitude to Governor Umo Eno for the payment of gratuity, stressing that the governor has, within the nine months of his stay in government, he paid over N14bn in gratuities which cut across civil pensioners, local government pensioners, primary school pensioners and next of kins.

He added, “If other administrations had made similar efforts, I think we would not have been in this kind of dilemma we find ourselves in today.

“We really appeal to him to continue as a pastor with a heart of human kindness to salvage the situation. He must not follow the part of his predecessors who abandoned the aged citizens, and our prayer for the governor will be ceaseless to do more.

“We have realised that pensioners have nobody to speak for them and let the world know their plights in Akwa Ibom. We appeal to the incumbent governor to come to our aid by establishing a pension commission or board.”

The chairman maintained that they have approximately 25,000 to 28,000 members.

“This is because as many are dying on a daily basis, others retire into the system too. It is a situation of coming in and exiting of members same time,” he explained.

He insisted that notwithstanding the governor’s recent efforts, over N40 billion outstanding pension and gratuities debts remain pending.