Pensioners in Ogun State, on Wednesday, took their plight to the state assembly, where they requested the intervention of the state lawmakers in getting their gratuities paid by the state government.
Speaking during a courtesy call on the Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, at the assembly complex in Abeokuta, the chairman of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) Ogun chapter, Waheed Oloyede, said the pensioners are demanding the immediate payment of their gratuities.
He explained that they are demanding payment of gratuities for state retirees from 2014 to date and local government retirees from September 2011 to date.
The chairman, however, stated that the state government had agreed to make a quarterly release of N500 million from January 2021.
He said the proposal would take 34 years to offset the outstanding N68 billion arrears. He, therefore, suggested that N1 billion monthly release by the government would enable a sizable population to get paid in good time.
He also stressed that it was on record that 134 months of unremitted contributory pension deductions were outstanding with the government and called for an immediate refund to the affected retirees.
Responding, the speaker assured the pensioners of the assembly’s renewed commitment to the welfare of the elderly and the physically challenged, saying the assembly was putting together a bill that would create new departments to address issues relating to their welfare.
Oluomo assured that the ninth legislature would continue to engage the government towards ensuring the payment of their outstanding gratuities as soon as government received the bond approved by the assembly.
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