By Denen Achussah
Pensioners in Benue State have commenced an indefinite protest to push for the payment of their pension and gratuities.
Last week, the senior citizens issued a notice to the Benue State Government that they would be embarking on indefinite peaceful protest today, Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
Chairman of the pensioners, Mr. Peter Kyado, said they were demanding among others, the immediate payment of outstanding pension arrears, both at the state and LGA levels; the payment of the monthly pensions; monthly release of N1billion defray the back-log of gratuities till all the outstanding gratuities were settled, among others.
The pensioners, some of who carry mats with them, say they “will be sleeping with the Governor in Government House; after all, it is Benue People’s House.”
John Awodi, who retired in 2005 as a Director in the Ministry of Works, said he was being owed 19 months in pension, stressing that he had not received gratuity since his retirement.
“I have children that are going to school,” he said. “By next week, I have a bill of not less than N200,000 in school fees and I have no single kobo. It is not like I didn’t work; I worked for my state and retired.”
Esther Orshi retired in 2013. Since then, she has not received one kobo in gratuity. She is being owed 25 months in pension.
“We are hungry,” she said. “Suswam (administration) owed us six months and out of those six months, only three months have been paid. If you add that to the present situation, we are owed 25 months.
“So, we are going to stay in the Government House; which is the people’s house, to tell the authorities that we are dying.”
When asked how they have been coping with life, Alhaji Jibrin Gyuse said that he was surviving by the “grace of God. And that should tell you that many are no more.”
However, the Chairman, Benue State Pension Commission, Terna Ahua, said the Samuel Ortom Administration is working hard to resolve the challenges facing pensioners in the state.
He explained that the problem of pension in the state cannot be solved in one day “even if you are a magician. This problem has been there for a long time.”
According to Ahua, the Benue State Pension Commission was trying to plan for prospective retirees as well as those who have already retired.