Michael Omisande, the Chairman, Association of Retirees and PFA Pensioners, Lagos State, has disclosed that Lagos State is currently indebted to retirees between 2018 and 2021. He revealed, at a press briefing yesterday, that thousands of senior citizens are suffering and are being deprived of their due benefits, climaxing the state debt to over 30 billion naira.
He described how the payment problem has affected the retirees in extreme ways; some of them are having to deal with critical illnesses, and a number of others have died. He continued to highlight the numerous problems that the retirees are groping with, including the inability to pay rent, and the consequential eviction from their homes.
According to him, the association has sent multiple letters to the governor; Gov. Jide Sanwo-olu, asking him to pay a closer look to the unpleasant condition of retirees who have spent their years in service to the government. However, all the efforts have not materialized into anything tangible, resulting in a sad plight for the senior citizens.
In the light of this, the Chairman firmly called on the state government to see to it that all outstanding arrears are quickly paid, many of which have accumulated for the past three to four years. He also petitioned the government to pay accrued interest on entitlements and upgrade the pension of all contributory pensioners.
Omisande said: “We submitted a memorandum to Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu and all stakeholders on how it was, how it is and how it ought to be. But the governor kept mute on these issues. Recently, we wrote a petition to the governor on our plight. There was no response. We have served him a reminder, which has not been responded to.”
“In the petition, we complained of delay in payment and poor remuneration of contributory pensioners, where the average payment of a junior retiree is N7000 per month for life and in the senior category, a director earns an average of N70,000 per month for life. But for pensioners in the old scheme, a director earns an average of over N200,000 in the same state.”
He added: “Where the government borrowed the scheme from, the elderly are well treated and are feeding well. When a programme is introduced in a state and implemented for some time, there should be a feedback mechanism to know if it is achieving the state’s objective. Where it is not, it should be reviewed.
“We are quite aware that Lagos is the richest state in Nigeria. There must be a problem somewhere, which must be addressed. If governors in states like Borno can pay off all their outstanding pension liabilities, why can’t Lagos pay and address the issue of death of retirees and pensioners, once and for all.”