PENSIONERS PROTEST NON-PAYMENT OF ENTITLEMENTS IN OSUN

#These are GrandPa's and GrandMa's that have served the state diligently, and how much is this entitlements we are talking about? peanuts, while political appointees are being paid millions. Deariss God ooooo!!! 

According to Punch, Members of Nigerian Union of Pensioners in Osun State on Monday protested against the non-payment of their pension by the state government.

The protesters, who gathered at the popular Olaiya Junction which is at the centre of Osogbo, caused traffic jam as they barricaded the road.

The pensioners accused the government of frustrating them, saying many of them had died due to lack of money while some of their children had been withdrawn from schools for the same reason.
Some of them claimed that Governor Rauf Aregbesola was punishing them deliberately by refusing to pay them their dues.

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor State of Osun

They stated that the fund being spent on the reelection of the governor could be used to pay the pension.
A member of the executive of the state chapter of the NUP, Mrs. Ronke Aderibigbe, said the non-payment of the pension had made life unbearable for many of the pensioners.

“Many of our colleagues are diabetic. Many are suffering from other ailments and they are finding it extremely difficult to manage these ailments because there is no money to buy drugs. Some are hospitalised and all attempts to see the governor to let him know our plights proved abortive.
“We cannot continue to suffer when we have worked hard for the state and we are now supposed to be enjoying, but you can see how haggard many of us are looking. This is unfair.”

But the governor in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, blamed the Federal Government for the delay in payment of pension and salaries of workers, explaining that allocation to the state had been on the decline since August 2013.

The governor called on the pensioners and other stakeholders to demand why the revenues accruing to the states had been on the decline.

The statement reads in part, “While acknowledging the rights of the retirees to demand their entitlements, they must also be reminded that the current administration has a rich history of pro-workers policies among which are unprecedented increase in pension payments and timely payment of salaries of workers.

“The alleged delay in the payment of the pensions cannot be divorced from the escalating revenue crisis across Nigeria. All the states across the federation have been telling Nigerians the dangers that lie in the unending dwindling revenues from the centre.

“Nigerians should be reminded that Aregbesola was the first to warn Nigerians of the financial crisis in states should the sharp decline in revenue to states remain unstopped, not forgetting the fact that Osun ranks number 34 on the revenue allocation table.”