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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Ekiti State chapter, has said that the removal of subsidy on fuel by the federal government has brought untold hardship on its members across the state.
The union’s chairman in the state, Joel Akinola, lamented that the harsh effects of the policy of government in the country have made pensioners to be more vulnerable.
Akinola made the remarks in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, during the distribution of 100 bags of rice to vulnerable members across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state donated to the union by the state government as palliatives.
The chairman, who hailed the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji, for making pensioners part of the beneficiaries of the palliatives, said the gesture was not unconnected to the governor’s commitment to the welfare and well-being of the senior citizens in the state.
Akinola appealed to the governor to further alleviate the hardship occasioned by the subsidy removal by paying arrears of pensions and gratuities of pensioners, noting that “the best palliative government can offer the pensioners is the payment of all outstanding gratuities and pensions for members to attend to their needs and access healthcare.”
In his remarks, Akinola said: “First, I want to thank the governor for considering us worthy to be part of the palliatives. As I used to say, it is the pensioners that are more vulnerable because of old age and some peculiarities associated with old age, especially during this period in the country.
“Let me tell you that many of us are having very poor pensions to the extent that some are earning as low as N500 and N1,000 monthly and you know that will not even get to the market but with these palliative, though it won’t solve all the problems at least, it will give them some hope that government remembers them.
“The rice should be given to the most vulnerable among us because we have many of our members that are really suffering, it will go a long way to assist them.”
Speaking on the expectations of pensioners from the government concerning the current economic situation, the Chairman said, “ First, the government started by paying the arrears of pension owed us by past administrations, even though it is our right but it came at a time we badly needed money.
“We still have more arrears of pensions and gratuities for them to pay us and if they are paid, it will assist us in improving our livelihoods during this difficult period.
“We are appealing to the government that another way of palliating the problem is paying our people their basic rights, which are arrears of pensions and gratuities. We still have two months arrears for state pensioners and five months for local government pensioners.”
