Pensioners Protest over N68bn Outstanding Gratuity

James Sowole in Abeokuta

Pensioners under the aegis of Local Government Pensioners Association (LOGPAN) yesterday stormed the Ogun State Governor’s Office in Abeokuta to protest against the non-payment of N68 billion 10 years outstanding gratuity.

The pensioners, who arrived at the governor’s office as early as 8 a.m., blocked the two main gates of the secretariat, preventing the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi, and other civil servants from gaining entrance into the building for hours.

Armed with placards of various inscriptions, the protesters asked the governor to heed the advice of his late father, who advised him to take care of the pensioners.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘Gratuities Are on Sales to Pensioners’; ‘Governor Dapo Abiodun Honour Your Father and Treat Pensioners Well’; Governor Abiodun, We Don’t Deserve This Worst Humiliation’, among others, accusing the governor of failing to keep his promises to the pensioners.

Addressing journalists, the state Chairman of LOGPAN, Alhaji Sikiru Ayilara, lamented that some of them still earn paltry sum of N3,000 as monthly pension.

Ayilara described the quarterly payment of N500 million by the governor, which according to him, would take 34 years to clear all the gratuities as “a wicked act” which is unacceptable.

He called for the review of the policy by voting N1billion monthly instead of payment of N500million quarterly which they said would take 34 years to clear the outstanding.

According to him, the association had written 13 letters to the governor seeking his audience to address their demands, “but the governor has remained recalcitrant and unyielding to their demands.”

He listed some of their requests to include non-payment of gratuities, lateness of pension payment, non-increment in the monthly pensions and discrimination against the members of the association by the government among others.

Ayilara insisted that it is illegal for the state government to be paying their pension through the Ministry of Finance instead of the Bureau of Local Government Pensions.

“We demand the immediate harmonisation of the pensions. We demand regular payment of our pensions as it was,” he stated.

Responding to the pensioners, the SSG, Talabi, appealed to the pensioners to be more patient with the government, saying: “The government is currently experiencing hard times,” assuring them that the government would look into the demands of the pensioners.