On Friday, pensioners in Nigeria’s South-West region protested the Federal Government’s failure to pay their unpaid gratuities.
The pensioners, who were organized under the banner of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPS), Southwest Zone, claimed that top National Pension Commission officials were retaining their allowances.
Workers from the University College Hospital in Ibadan, the University Teaching Hospital in Ife, the Ilorin Teaching Hospital, the Federal Medical Centres in Ogun and Lagos, and NIPOST are among the pensioners.
The older folks urged that their pensions be paid as soon as possible, holding banners in their hands.
They expressed their disappointment that the money they contributed at the time of their retirement was not returned to them, claiming that members of the association were in desperate need of the funds.
During the protest, Joseph Olugbemiga, the Chairman of NUPCPS in Oyo State, lamented that his “members had not been fairly treated, having contributed to national progress while in service.”
The union had written to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance, according to Olugbemiga, who also indicated that the matter had been taken to court.
He further claimed that a man named Ibrahim Bakare conspired with others to steal off the pensioners’ contributions after they had been put in the designated account.
“What we are contending for is, we are applying for our short payment of shortfall,” Olugbemiga explained. They utilized our grade level while calculating our money. They used the salary grade level of every parastatal when calculating our money by Pencom when we were retiring.
“After that, we applied, and they calculated it.” Then they applied to the federal government for assistance, which was granted.
“Then Alhaji Ibrahim Bakare and his associates withdrew the money from the treasury and put it in a private account, earning over N200 million in interest every year.”
“We then sought our money, before they informed us that the case was in court.” The case isn’t in court right now.
“After then, Damisah is the principal official in charge of the funds in his account. They’ve been holding the money and earning interest all along.
“This is our position: IPPIS owes us money.” The money in the IPPIS was not calculated with our people’s pension money when they retired, and we’ve been parading the office of the Accountant General for the past two years, and the money is still there. They raised the funds from all of our members. What is causing the delay?
“We have some local issues like that of Damisah, the chairman for Ife. We asked him to surrender all the documents of the association, but he failed to do that. He was taken to the police station but the police were unable to arrest him. We have taken him to the Ooni of Ife palace.
“If we arrest Damisah today, they know that the secret of this money, he and Alhaji Bakare, they colluded. Do we have a government who cannot control those people that are serving?
“All letters we have been writing to the minister of finance, there was no reply.
“We have suffered for this government and those people that are clamouring to leave Pencom, why are they clamouring? Why did they remove the police and Army? Is it because the condition of service there is not palatable?
“Instead of giving us 80 per cent of our last pay, they are giving us 20 per cent. For what? Is it in the constitution?
“We asked them to make a provision for our checkup bills, but they refused. And Pencom is taking one per cent of our money as administrative charges.
“These people had served for 35 years and you are saying they are not entitled to gratuity. We have not been paid our gratuity. The condition by which we were employed is still there,” Olugbemiga stated.
In his reaction, Ibrahim Bakare of Salary and Wages Commission, Abuja, faulted the pensioners’ claims.
Bakare denied fixing the pensioners’ funds in an account.
He said “It is not possible for the Federal Government to pay money into somebody’s account without due process. If you go through what they are saying very well, we are all pensioners; and as a pensioner, they will pay you your money. If they have any other money to pay you, they will.
“They (the pensioners) are not entitled to it. They have complained to Pencom, saying they are not entitled to a shortfall.”
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