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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Pensioners on the platform of the Federal Civil Service Pensioners (FCSPB) have threatened to embark on a protest over failure of the government to pay the N25,000.00 wage award that was promised to them in August 2023 as a way to lessen the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.
The Union, which decried the deplorable conditions of its members due to the current economic situation of the country, issued the threat at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
President of FCSPB, Comrade Sunday Omezi, stated that none of the union’s members had received a single payment to date, despite numerous attempts to enforce the wage award through letters to the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
Omezi also demanded that the 2015 outstanding pension, which had been abandoned, be reviewed.
He warned that if the government does not start addressing the problems, the union might be forced to take drastic actions.
The union leader said: “It is pathetic and disappointing to bring to the fore, the non-payment of the N25,000.00 Wage Award promised pensioners by the government since August, 2023.
“It is rather distasteful that up until date, no single payment has been made to pensioners.
“We are hereby demanding immediate payment of the award, because it is so embarrassing for such a promise to be left unfulfilled.
“We can mobilize ourselves and protest. If they do not pay, which I believe they will pay after this press briefing, but, if they do not pay, then we will take the next line of action.
“We have been crying profusely the tears of pain over the years, through several official representations to the government, but our yelling has been deliberately ignored, hence we are left with no option, but to cry out louder to the world to be informed of the pathetic condition we have been made to suffer by the same system that is expected to protect us, now that we have become feeble and vulnerable, after sucking our resourcefulness.
“It is quite absurd, regrettable and inconceivable that this category of the citizenry, who actually formed the pivot upon which the contemporary service is built on, should be reduced to such degrading subhuman, so much as not worthy of even second class citizens, in spite of their immense contribution to the development and the growth of the country.
“We therefore passionately appeal to the government to live up to its responsibilities in the spirit of the National Anthem, that: “The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain,” by treating us fairly.”
