Amina Titilayo Balogun is one of Nigeria’s pensioners who served the nation for 35 years meritoriously but is made to suffer untold hardships either due to underpayment or non-payment of retirement benefits.
Mrs Balogun’s case is one of the many cases of retired civil servants across the country who were short-changed in their retirement benefits, and are fighting to get their full benefit while alive as some may have died without getting their full benefits.
The 63-year-old retired widow and mother of four told Daily Trust that she has been going through excruciating pains and hardship trying to get her deserved retired benefit.
Mrs Balogun started her civil service career with the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) on December 1, 1980 on Grade Level 02 and retired on CONHESS Grade Level 07 step 1.
Tinubu asked to Ignore fake news targeted at FG officials
Tinubu asked to Ignore fake news targeted at FG officials
But after retirement in 2015, she was underpaid her retirement benefit as she claimed she was paid gratuity of Grade Level 04 instead of Grade Level 07 on which she retired.
Speaking with Daily Trust, Mrs Balogun, whose husband died in 2005, said, “I retired from NIFOR in 2015 and my pension was paid in 2017.
“But I was underpaid; they paid me a retirement benefit of grade level 04 instead of grade level 07 on which I retired.
“I was employed at Grade Level 02. I stayed on one level for 15 years before getting a promotion. When I was stagnated on one level, they said I won’t get promoted until I upgraded myself academically.
“So, I struggled to upgrade my certificate and eventually obtained the National Certificate of Education (NCE). But when I tendered the certificate for elevation, they promoted others with whom we had submitted the certificates and I was left out.”
She explained that when she was eventually promoted, she couldn’t get her promotion arrears.
“I was given a paper that my promotion arrears had been paid but when I got to the bank, the money was not there. I complained but could not get a good response and when I got tired, I left it to God.
“After I had retired on grade level 07 in 2015, I was paid gratuity of grade level 04 in 2017, instead of grade level 07. Prior to my retirement, I went for retirement capture but I don’t know why I was underpaid,” she said.
Efforts made to get full entitlement
Mrs Balogun told Daily Trust that as soon as she received the retirement benefit and noticed that she was underpaid, she reported to the institute’s administrative secretary who asked her to write a letter of complaint to the institute.
“After submitting the letter, they said I should take it to Abuja myself and that they had nothing to do with the issue since I had retired,” she said.
She said after her complaint, NIFOR wrote the ministry and other relevant authorities intimating them of the error in her retirement benefit which she took to Abuja.
Mrs Balogun said following NIFOR’s refusal to take the letter to Abuja, she took the pain to go and submit the letter to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, PENCOM, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), as well as her Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
She said when she returned from Abuja, she also went to submit the acknowledgement copy from Abuja to the institute.
“After one year, I still went to NIFOR to inquire about my payment so that I could pack my property out of the quarters. They said I have retired and that they don’t have anything to do with me.
“Thereafter, I travelled to Abuja for the second time, moving from one office to another to know the state of my letter but nothing concrete was achieved.
“On my third trip to Abuja to still fight for my full benefit, I fainted on the road in the process of moving from one office to the other, as I embarked on trekking due to lack of funds but some good Nigerians came to my rescue.
“On getting back from Abuja, I still went to NIFOR to tell them that the story was still the same and that they should come to my aid. They asked me to go to my pension administrators in Benin. It was when I went there that one of the staff gave me a number to call instead of travelling to Abuja; still, no respite,” she said.
NIFOR evicted me from my house
Mrs Balogun said in May, she became sick and had travelled for medical treatment as she had no money to treat herself at NIFOR.
“But on June 8, they called, asking me why I locked my house and left. I told them I was sick and went for treatment and that I would come back as soon as I was fully well. I told them that I would leave as soon as I got my money.
“Surprisingly, on June 17, my neighbour called me to say that my properties were outside and that NIFOR had forcefully broken into my house,” she said.
She said when she came back, she met her properties outside with most of them missing.
She said she is currently staying at an uncompleted building.
Life has not been easy
Mrs Balogun said she has been doing many things to survive and put food on her table since she is a widow.
“My plan was to establish something that would be giving me income but that hope was dashed when I was underpaid.
“After my retirement, I have been selling wood and doing some kinds of petty trade to make a living. While in service, I was also into tailoring and other things to be able to train my children because I have been a widow since 2005. My children are graduates but have no jobs.”
She appealed to President Bola Tinubu and all concerned authorities to come to her aid and ensure that she gets her deserved retirement benefit after serving the nation for 35 years.
Also speaking, Mrs Balogun’s daughter, Khadija Balogun, said the eviction of her mother was done in order to silence her for complaining about her underpayment.
“She has been fighting this since 2017. Now they want to silence her, so they forcefully broke into her house and brought her property outside while she was away so that she won’t have the time to fight for her benefit,” she said.
Khadija added that her mother’s case is one of what the many underprivileged Nigerians go through in looking for their rights.
She appealed to the federal government to ensure that her mother gets justice, as she has served the country for 35 years.
We tried to help her – NIFOR
The Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) denied Mrs Balogun’s claims, saying they offered to help her but instead of complying with the advice given to her, she was insulting everyone.
The Head NIFOR Pension Unit, Ohihemota Clive, said, “Mrs Balogun retired in 2015 but we don’t pay pension; it is PENCOM that pays pension through contributory pension scheme. You contribute your pension and PENCOM pays you through your pension fund administration on retirement.
“Mrs Balogun said the computation for her pension was for GL4 which is not possible because PENCOM has the record of every staff member. They deduct money at source and remit to PFAs. So, the possibility of using GL4 in computing her pension instead of CONHENSS GL6 is impossible.
“The first time she came to complain, we told her to write so that we would endorse her letter, give her money and also send a staff to accompany her to Abuja to submit the letter. But rather than doing that, she went on social media abusing NIFOR and everybody.”
He said Mrs Balogun’s problem is that she saw her co-retirees on the same level collecting more money than her and she did not know what they contributed but instead she is holding the institute to ransom.
“When she first complained, we wrote and it was her business to sort it out with PENCOM and not the institute. If they had not answered her, it is not our business and she should not hold us to ransom,” he added.
On eviction from staff quarters, Clive said Mrs Balogun’s house is one of the houses the institute is recovering from retired staff who locked up their houses and left so that other staff could get accommodation.
“She retired in 2015 and for eight years she locked the place and has not been staying there. She didn’t pack out; rats and lizards were living there while the building was deteriorating. If she was paying rent, could she do that?
“She was served quick notice several times; we even got the police to speak to her. We invited the police, NSCDC, NIFOR housing and welfare committees and our internal security when we were recovering the houses. We took inventory of all the items before taking action. We didn’t take her property,” he said.
Also speaking, NIFOR head of Human Resource division, Princess Sadiat Ziregbe, said Mrs Balogun retired in December 2015 and was captured for pension in May 2014 and before her retirement, she was promoted in October 2015.
“After her promotion, she was on CONHESS GL7 step 1 before she retired but she was already captured before the promotion came, and PENCOM worked on GL6 step 3 for her calculation, so her last promotion was not calculated and if there is going to be any difference, it is going to be a little,” Sadiat said.
She however advised her to go to her PFAs and get a print-out where she would see when her pension was high and when it became the normal amount.
