Ondo State pensioners who are being owed N68 billion in pension and gratuities have threatened to take the government to court.
Ihe Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Ondo State accused the Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, of denying them of their entitlements.
In an interview, NUP Chairman, Johnson Osunyemi, said their monthly pensions were being paid in instalments and that they were yet to collect that of last October . Also, he said local government pensioners were yet to get that of last November.
He noted that the state pays N200 million monthly for state pensions and N50 million local government pensions.
The union urged the governor to clear the arrears or face their wrath.
He said: “We have issues with our pension to the extent that pension is not paid as at when due. For instance, the pensioners are yet to collect their October 2021 pensions while LGA are yet to collect November pension. Irrespective of the fact that the payments are not made as at when due, the issue of percentage payment does not make things to work well for us. We are not been paid fully. Sometimes, state governments pay 80 per cent or less.
“On gratuity, we have huge backlog. We are owed N68 billion. Although the state releases N200 million monthly to state and N50 million to local government, yet it is not enough. What normally happens is that a pensioner who is supposed to collect N10 million as gratuity is being paid N500,000. For local government, the highest pay is about N200,000.
“Despite that gratuity payment is supposed to be a one-off payment, it is being paid instalmentally.
“Even those that are paid in bits, as I stated, are the pensioners who can warm their way up to the top. At present, we have 2011 pensioners who have not collected gratuities at the state level.The last time they made payment was in 2013.
“We did not go to court before now because the NUP at the Southwest level is taking a collective decision. But we have given the governor warning that failure to adhere to our request, we will be left with no other option than to take him to court,” he added.
Osunyemi said the CPS was picking up but that it had not been extended to the main stream of the government. I think they have started with some agencies.
“The problem with CPS is the issue of non-remittance of contributions. The government deducts some from employees’ salary, but would fail to pay their portion of the contribution and would not remit anything to the employee’s Retirement Savings Account. The government has not been faithful,” he lamented.
Source: The Nation
