Retirees besiege Rivers Govt. House demand 5 years pension, gratuity

More than 1,500 retired staff from various ministries and government agencies in Rivers State on Tuesday besieged the Government House, Port Harcourt, peacefully protesting unpaid gratuities and pension salaries owed them by the state since 2012.

The retired workers claimed that the assertions by government that the pensions and gratuities of pensioners from the state’s public service have all been paid in full was not applicable to them.

Chairman of the retirees, Mr. Monday Udo, who led the pensioners during the protest, disclosed to newsmen that the affected workers who served the state government for 35 years of their youthful and productive age and retired from 2012 to 2015 have not been scheduled for payment since April 2015, and had opened bank accounts as directed by government, in respect of the payments to no avail.

Mr. Udo stated: “We are pleading with the governor that we are under severe agony and wish the government to pity and pay us our benefits. In summary, we are demanding for the payment of our initial pension arrears from date of retirement; the payment of our gratuities as well as pay roll us into the monthly pension allowance.”

In a letter addressed to the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, dated March 6, 2017, which was received and acknowledged same day by the “office of the governor” the pensioners claimed that they have not been paid their gratuities and monthly pay roll salaries since they retired from the state’s public service five years ago.

The letter also read: “With pains in our hearts, we the undersigned representing unpaid retirees (2012-2015) kindly wish to notify you with dismay our pitiable conditions concerning the delay in the payment of our initial pension arrears, pay rolling us for monthly allowances and gratuity

“Consequent to the delay in the payments of these entitlements, a good number of us have died, some critically ill, beside the disastrous hardship faced daily in the heat of this national recession. Our children have been thrown out of school, some find it difficult to feed, while yet others have lost the accommodations,” it stated.

Signatories to the letter are: the Chairman, Mr. Monday Udo, Chairman; Mr. Urang Isaac, Secretary; Mr. Diri Thankgod, Public Relations Officer; then Mrs. Onumbu Henrietta, Vincent Udomba, Sir Vincent Udomba, Mr. Wiri Samuel, and Mrs. Amadi Florence Iche, as members representing the retirees.
The protesters complained that they have been suffering because of the inability of the state government to place them on monthly pension allowances despite haven completed their biometrics which the government compelled them to do as a condition for eligibility into the reviewed pension scheme.

The biometric scheme was designed to weed out ghost workers and scammers who hitherto bloated the previous scheme. A male pensioner claimed that he was owed 16 months arrears. “I have not received my pension allowance or gratuity for 16 months. I was crying here I don’t know what to do again. I don’t have anything to eat. Somebody that studied in Britain, I came back home to suffer.”

According to one of the aggrieved female retirees, “Most of us are being hounded by landlords. It is their money. If you cannot pay, you pack out, simple! It is a shame and a disgrace that you served a government for 35 years and at the end of day, you pack your load to the village and now become a laughing stock to those who never worked as hard and as long as you did.”

Another lamented: “You hear government officials on radio, saying that the government has paid the salaries of all pensioners up to date, but that is not true. We have not been paid since we retired. Even if we have retired from the public service, have we retired from eating? They should pay me my money, it is my right.”

The Chairman of the protesters denied claims by government officials that all pensioners have been paid their pension allowances and gratuities at the time of the protest. He lamented: “Our problems are numerous: pensioners are dying daily due to cardio vascular diseases, ranging from heart attack, tuberculosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatic pains, and all what not.

“Most pensioners can no longer feed well. We no longer go on normal diet. We eat anything we can lay our hands on. We are aware that our peace loving Governor, Nyesom Wike, is not aware of our plight. This is why we have come to protest at the main gate of government house to draw his attention to our condition.”

He continued: “Many of us have died and are dying by the day; many are critically ill, bed-ridden in various hospitals; many cannot foot their hospital bills and as such are at home reserved to fate; land-lords have thrown many out of their residences rendering them homeless.

“We cannot pay our children school fees in secondary and tertiary institutions; these children are at home doing nothing; those of them due for graduation cannot complete their courses; we are now turned to beggars in our state of origin and no one is willing to sell on credit to us their food stuffs,” he lamented.

No government official came out to address the protesting retirees, but another letter signed by their representatives was received by security officials at the Government House gate with a promise that the letter would be delivered to the governor. They were also told to expect the reply from next week.

Last Friday, Governor Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, had stated in government house, Port Harcourt, that he had used part of the first tranche of the London-Paris Club Excess Loan Deduction Refund ordered to be shared and paid to the 36 state governors in the country, by President Mohammad Buhari, to cushion the pangs of the current recession, to pay the salaries of civil servants including the outstanding gratuities and monthly allowances of pensioners under the wage bill of the Rivers State government.

The governor explained: “While other states in the country got the 25 per cent of the London-Paris Refund as approved by President Mohammadu Buhari, Rivers State alongside Akwa Ibom and Delta State only got 11.5 per cent. Rivers State did not squander what we receive from the fund; we use our share to pay salaries, pensions while the balance was used to execute key projects in the state.”