Interestingly motivational

Na Naija way be that.
Kill the powerless because you get immunity, even when you(FRSC) are worse than the offender.
Immunity kill you there.

It's a life's lesson.

I'm not an HR person per se, but with his age and experience he wouldn't be able to do much at a new job than just play advisory roles.

That's why you should start planning your retirement from the first day you start your job, but telling people this is like you hate them. I learnt this fact from my closeness to a LGA SSS Director during my NYSC in Imo as the CLO.

Word on marble for today:

No b all abroad b abroad

Lalasticlala this is enlightening, don't you think so too?

It is well with my soul

That's a viper.

You didn't continue, can you do that now?

Coro ti koro

Not even one?

Na wa o

FG has repaid our 35 years of service with deaths, paralysis, poverty –Irimi, Ogun college pensioners’ chair

Published May 3, 2020

Chairman of Contributory Pensioners Association, Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta chapter, Eric Irimi, tells DAUD OLATUNJI how failure by the Federal Government to pay pensioners for 16 months has affected them

You recently called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to pay 16 months’ entitlements, how many of your members are affected?


We did call on Mr President to pay us almost one and half years’ pensions and gratuities that the Federal Government owes us. We had our biometric data captured in July 2018, prior to our exit from service in 2019. And since January 2019 when we left the service, the Federal Government has not paid us our pensions and gratuities.


How much does the Federal Government owe you?


I cannot say what they owe everybody since it depends on grade levels and the points at which workers exited the public service; that would determine the amount they have under their contributory pension savings. Every individual is entitled to choose their Pension Fund Administrator and it is the PFA that is keeping and investing the money on behalf of each person. For instance, I have over N10m in my contributory pension savings. I cannot access it because the Federal Government has said it has to first add what they call accrued right, which is accruable to us right from when we were employed until 2004, when the new contributory pension scheme started.

After about a year and a half that we should have started receiving our pensions and gratuities, we are still waiting. I do not know why we have been kept in the dark. The matter has to do with the accrued right that the Federal Government refuses to add to our contributory savings. Because of this, the PFAs are not ready to give us our money. Even when we approach our PFAs, they say the National Pension Commission has told them not to release any amount from our contributory savings to us until they receive individual accrued right.

How did it accumulate up till 16 months, the period of time you say you are being owed your entitlements?

It accumulated to 16 months because before now, under the contributory pension scheme, which started in 2004, retirees should not wait for up to two to three weeks before they get their money. But since 2004, when they started operating this new contributory pension scheme, we have discovered that government has refused to do the needful as and when due.

It started gradually by delaying payment because of accrued right from three weeks or one month. It got to three months; from three months, it got to six months; from six months, it got to one year. For almost a year and a half now, we have been waiting. And with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown occasioned by the pandemic, many of our members have been suffering in silence; some are even dying while some have become paralysed because there is no money to access some of the basic things of life.

Many of us have children in universities and feeding and paying bills have become a problem. So, this is the situation the federal senior citizens are facing. And now, the Federal Government is considering accessing our money to use as COVID-19 palliatives for those who are in service; that is not acceptable to us because that is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. How would you collect money from those who are retired to pay those who are still in service? This is totally unacceptable by all standards and we feel that the government is insensitive; the government is mean and wicked. Our pensions are in millions of naira and vary depending on the levels we left service.

Why are pensioners in other states not crying out like this? Are they not affected?

They are crying and dying in silence because we do not have a platform yet. Although, there is Nigeria Union of Pensioners; it caters for the needs of the old order. Those of us under the contributory pension scheme do not have a platform yet but at the Federal College of Education, Osiele, we have the Association of Contributory Pensioners, which we are using to agitate. We hope that with time, we would develop and become the National Association of Contributory Pensioners of Nigeria, where all of us in this situation can articulate our challenges when we have them. It is this lacuna that the operators of the scheme are exploiting to our disadvantage because we do not have anybody to champion our cause. It was the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, who warned the Federal Government not to touch our money under the contributory pension scheme, which they wanted to take out of.

You have lamented that you need the money because things are hard due to the lockdown, can you describe what you and others have been going through in the last 16 months?

In the last 16 months, it has been tales of agony and sad experiences; we have moved from one horrible situation to another. Many of us have children in schools – secondary schools and universities – and we cannot pay their school fees. Many of us are on medication and cannot buy drugs. Many of us are diabetic. Many of us are visually impared and need to buy medications to survive. We used to go to our colleagues still in service and family members to seek assistance to survive, but with COVID-19, help is not coming from anywhere. Those who have been assisting us need assistance themselves. This is why we are crying out. We have written a SOS letter to President Buhari and other stakeholders in the system.

If the government does not yield to your demand quickly, what do you foresee will happen to those affected?

We would be forced to go to Abuja and occupy Aso Rock. This money is not meant to serve as palliatives for workers, it is meant for retirees who have jointly contributed to the pension fund.

If the government does not yield to our demand soon, we plan to organise a peaceful protest by going straight to the headquarters of PENCOM to occupy the place; then we would go to the National Assembly to protest and let the whole world know that this is a country where retirees are treated badly. We are ready to tell the world that this is a country where retirees are told to retire and go and die in silence.

Legal action will be part of the options. I think we will have to do that since the Federal Government is not deploying all the necessary economic might to reengineer the economy by bringing the best brains to fix the economy. We will take the Federal Government to court to ask them to do the needful.

Have there been reported deaths among you that can be connected to this?


For almost a year and a half now, we have been waiting for our pensions and gratuities. With the outbreak of COVID-19, many of our members are suffering in silence; some are even dying, while some have become paralysed because there is no money to access some of the basic things of life. Many of us cannot feed or pay our children’s tuition. Paying bills has become a problem. Although, I cannot give you the necessary statistics because we don’t have an association, I can tell you that many of our members are dying in silence.

What are the other issues affecting members of your union?

Some of the members of the union have a lackadaisical approach because of lack of visible leadership. Some of them do not even have money to transport themselves to meeting venues.

How are the issues being dealt with?

We are in a very serious dilemma. Hopefully, before the end of this year, the National Association of Contributory Pensioners of Nigeria will be launched and we would register the organisation with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Afterwards, it would be ‘fire for fire’ with the Federal Government which has been mismanaging the funds.

The Federal Government has said it is giving out palliatives, which include bags of rice to states, have you and your colleagues received palliatives?


We have not received any palliatives from the Federal Government. At the state level, they sent it through the community development associations and it was so meager that I had to opt out of being involved in the management of the COVID-19 palliatives. What they brought could not even satisfy two households, let alone a CDA of about 52 households. As far as I am concerned, both the federal and state governments are making a mockery of the palliatives they are talking about. Those things are not palliatives; they are insulting things being sent to vulnerable people. We are living at the mercy of God, neighbours and relatives. That is the situation of retirees. That is what we get after 35 years of active service.

What message do you have for the government?


The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency implement the payment of our pensions, especially for those of us who have had our biometric data captured since 2018 at our various locations. We do not see any reason why the Federal Government should leave us in the lurch to suffer.

We contributed money to the fund when we were agile and strong with the hope that when our hair turned grey, we would not know penury and hardship, but today, our gray hair has known suffering as we are denied access to that fund.



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