I was scandalized when the clueless Goodluck Jonathan asked Nigerians to vote for Atiku so that Nigerians can eat. The same Atiku who jointly caused the death of NITEL and other Federal government public infrastructure.

The NITEL issue is a case in point. In the year 2004, the PDP government led by Obasanjo/Atiku completely ran NITEL down and eventually sold it off to one of their cronies after laying off NITEL workers totalling about 10,000 without paying them any of their entitlements. After several pleas by the laid-off workers, the office of the Vice president (Atiku Abubakar) in 2004 reluctantly agreed to pay only 3 years pension on a take it or leave it basis. Successive PDP governments also ignored these former NiTEL workers until the President Muhammadu Administration.

Former NiTEL workers were not the only ones whose entitlements were seized by the PDP governments of Obasanjo/Atiku and GEJ. The ex workers of moribund Nigeria Airways were also neglected by PDP governments. 70% of retired Federal civil servants who worked in several ministries, departments and agencies were not paid their gratuities and pensions. Former police officers of the Nigeria Police Force who were in Biafra territory before the outbreak of the war were neglected. You could imagine the hunger in the families of the affected ex workers. Due to the denial of their rightful entitlements, many of them died from starvation, lack of funds to access medical attention, disappointment and heartbreak. While Nigerian workers starved to death, these governments, from 1999 to 2015 fed fat on the economy. Atiku Abubakar was busy laundering workers’ money from Nigeria to his 4th wife’s account in the USA. According to Obasanjo, the money he stole could feed all Federal civil servants for 300 years. The US Senate was rattled at his corruption, and after serial investigations were conducted, Atiku was barred from entering the United States till date.

But President Muhammadu Buhari who has human feeling has intervened in the precarious situation of these dying and frustrated workers. Today, about 10,000 ex workers of NITEL have been paid their entitlements with loot recovered from corrupt politicians. Ex workers of the Nigeria Airways have also been paid and the former police officers of the NPF who were in Biafra territory before the civil war broke out have also been compensated by the Buhari administration in the year 2017. All retired Federal civil servants now get their gratuities and pensions duly. There are no more issues of pension scam or unpaid entitlements. Federal civil servants are receiving their salaries promptly under PMB. So, millions of families who were starving under PDP governments are now eating under Buhari administration. The President Jonathan needs to get his facts right before dancing naked in public. The school feeding programme has ensured that our children all over the country feed well in their classrooms and do not have to learn on empty stomach. The school feeding programme has also created employment/business opportunities for thousands of small scale entrepreneurs who are cooking the food. The Npower programme of the federal government has 500, 000 direct beneficiaries and millions of indirect beneficiaries. It is the biggest and most successful employment scheme/social intervention scheme in Africa so far. In this administration, only lazy people can go hungry.

Continue reading... https://emmnetblog.com/2018/12/06/how-nigerians-were-denied-their-entitlements-from-2004-2015/

May God guide and protect PMB/PYO

We must stand solidly behind Buhari.