By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
Kwara State pensioners under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) have called on the governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to set aside a special fund to pay their outstanding gratuities.
The pensioners who are aged and battling with one form of old age and terminal sickness or the other were of late said to be dying constantly for lack of money to buy their needed medications lamented the alleged unpaid gratuity arrears and outstanding monthly pensions.
They at a press conference in Ilorin said the Kwara State Pensions Board (KWSPB) and that of the Local Government Staff Pensions Board (LGSPB) had not paid their gratuities and the arrears of pensions which the immediate past government owed them for many years.
In a statement signed by the state Chairman and Secretary of NUP, Comrades Saidu Oladimeji and Abraham Gana respectively, the pensioners condemned what it described as a piece-meal monthly payment of pensions by the two pension paying institutions saying, its impact of the paying arrangement on the members is simply that of suffering and gradual death.
They pleaded with Governor AbdulRazaq to heed their calls pointing out that they would feel a sigh of relief if he (the governor) could with the milk of kindness accede to their request and pay, his name would be printed in gold and they that would make sure that even make the children yet unborn would know about his goodness.
They demanded that the state Governor should please for instance, specifically set aside a substantial amount of money every month for the payment of these outstanding gratuities to pensioners.
They had said; “The NUP is using this forum to appeal to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, with all sense of respect; to borrow a leaf from the good experience in some states like Borno, Lagos and Osun where colossal funds were set aside for the payment of outstanding gratuities to pensioners.
“The settlement in these states had brought good omen on to the living conditions of the old ages who are the beneficiaries of this payment and thus, impacted positively on their lives and its positive bearings on their contributions and the overall economic status of these the noble states.
“The Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Nigeria Union of
Pensioners (NUP) rose from its weekly meeting with the passage of the words of encomiums on the Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and all the members of Association of Local Government Chairmen under the umbrella of ALGON (Kwara State Branch) for the approval they got the during the Kwara State November 2021 Statutory LG Fund Allocation Meeting,
“The integration for the monthly payment of year 2010; 20% Salary Increase Harmonisation into the monthly wage-bill to all benefitting LG/LGEA Pensioners who have retired from Service ahead of May 1, 2010 in the state is very much appreciated
“It particularly gladdened the minds of all the affected members of the union that this comes at a time when it preceded the impending year 2019 salary increase and the consequential adjustment which is currently under consideration for implementation in Kwara state.
“The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in the state gives kudo to
Kwara state government for its magnanimity for this good and timely decision.
“Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is being commended for the regular payment of pensioners’ monthly stipends, adding that since the inception of the present administration, pensioners in Kwara state both at the state and local government levels have been receiving their monthly pension and as at when due; urging the present administration to continue in the same manner”.