While Others Were Celebrating Independence, We Were Burying Members – Ekiti Pensioners

BY ABIODUN NEJO

Pensioners in Ekiti State lamented, on Wednesday, that the heaps of pensions being owed them by the state government have exposed them to sicknesses with some of them daily dying over treatable diseases.

The pensioners, under the aegis of Concerned Local Government Pensioners
Association of Nigeria (CLGPAN), Ekiti Chapter, said it was pathetic that while Nigerians were celebrating Independence Day on October 1, pensioners in Ekiti State were burying their members and crying over avoidable issues.

CLGPAN’s Coordinator/Chairman, Alhaji Quadri  Oguntuase and Secretary, Mr
Abiodun Agboola, said in Ado Ekiti that the outgoing Ayodele Fayose Government neglected the senior citizens, a development which they said impoverished pensioners and made them vulnerable to all forms of diseases.

Consequently, they appealed to the Governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to place premium priority on payment of pension when he assumes office, saying they were tired of how their members were being killed by treatable diseases due to unpaid pension arrears.

The pensioners made the appeal on Wednesday after a prayer session organized to seek the face of God against high incidences of deaths among members.

A communiqué issued at the end of the session and signed by Oguntuase and Agboola regretted that none of its member had received his or her monthly pension since January 2018.

The statement reads in part: “At that prayer session, we didn’t just pray for God’s intervention, we also viewed  the neglect of our members in the scheme of things as
callous and greatest  height of insensitivity.

“We want to alert the public that we have not been paid once this year, we have no reason to shout Happy New Year since 2018, because
our we have not been paid.

“Everybody is celebrating Independence Day, but we are mourning over our colleagues who have died in the course excruciating pains of hunger and treatable diseases.

“Some of us live on the children who have no specific jobs after their graduation and service year. We are tired of this situation and the next government must change the trend.

“On this note, we appeal  to  the Governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to make the welfare of our members his priority.

“He should, as a matter of importance, arrest the deaths among our members. How can someone work for 35 years and later be abandoned to
suffer in the hands of government?

“What made our situation more pathetic is that it was the same government we served that has been meting this punishment to us. We are tired of one-day, one-death among our members”, the communiqué stated.