The Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Ekiti State, Azeez Agbaje, tells ABIODUN NEJO that despite their meritorious services before retirement, pensioners in the state have continued to suffer untold hardship and denial through the non-payment of their gratuities and pension arrears
Pensioners in other states stage protests to draw attention to their plight but in Ekiti, you chose to have prayer and thanksgiving sessions. Why is that so?
One with God is a majority. If we have problems, we have to call on God. We, as pensioners here, have no other option than to call for the help of the supreme being for solutions. Sometime in April, we held a prayer session and told God to choose his beloved for us as a governor in the state, and by God’s grace, as we are looking at things now, I think our prayers have been answered. Even before the electioneering, we had our prayers and God granted our requests.
How optimistic are you that the new administration will accede to your requests?
As I said, if you want something, even from your parents, if you are so devoted and your parents discover that you are highly respectful, that will be granted to you. That was the situation we had and we prayed to God to take absolute control of the new governor so that he will be able to accede to all our requests. That was why we decided to pray for his successful tenure.
What are the requests?
They border on the plight of pensioners. There are a lot of things like the payment of the humongous arrears of gratuities, arrears of pensions, and even arrears of our check-off dues being owed us by the state government. On the issue of gratuities, the state government owes our members over N40bn. The local government pensioners were last paid gratuities in September 2012 while state pensioners were last paid gratuities in July 2013. For arrears of pension, the state government owes state pensioners three months arrears of pension while those in local governments are owed seven months arrears of pension. Aside from gratuities and pension, we are owed check-off dues i.e monthly deductions from the pension of all pensioners. The state government owes us check-off dues for seven months.
How did the debt increase over time?
The state government last paid gratuities to state pensioners in 2013 and local government pensioners in 2012; that was during the first term of Dr Kayode Fayemi as governor. When Segun Oni was in office, he paid gratuities and pensions promptly and did not owe us anything. But the problem of non-payment of gratuities started in 2012 during Fayemi’s first tenure and it has been accumulating since then. The situation continued under the two administrations (that of Ayodele Fayose and Fayemi’s second term) that followed.
When Fayose came to office in 2014, he continued with the non-payment of gratuities. Fayose was the one that owed the outstanding arrears of pension. Fayose, at a point, began payment of N10m monthly, according to him, as part of efforts to offset the debt of gratuities owed pensioners, but the amount was paltry and the disbursement was epileptic. When he paid for a month, it took another three or four months before another payment came, so it could not achieve anything. When Fayemi came for second term, he increased the purported N10m monthly to N100m, but the payment was also not constant. For instance, between January this year and October 15 when Fayemi left office, the N100m was paid only once. This is how the unpaid gratuities have continued to mount. The problem of non-payment of gratuities started under Fayemi in 2012. At that time, the explanation they gave us was that some career officials misappropriated funds meant for gratuities.
Were your members convinced by the explanation given by the Fayemi administration?
They said some career officials misappropriated funds, but as a governor, if some people misappropriated (money), those who misappropriated should be punished. But there was no penalty for those who misappropriated the funds. How will pensioners be made to suffer for the offence of career officials who misappropriated funds? We are yet to understand that, but that has been our lot. I regard it as callousness on the part of the state government. That is callousness.
How have your members been coping without their entitlements?
It is a pity a lot of our people have died. We have lost over 300 persons. Many others are sick. Over 400 are bedridden because of the non-payment of their gratuities and pension arrears. Pensioners are elderly people. We need money for our welfare – feeding and drugs – to cater to our ailments as aged people. Our members have children that are unemployed and need to be catered for but we are made to suffer despite our meritorious service to the state and nation.
Did you bring the condition of your members, in terms of the suffering, hunger, ailments, and deaths, to the notice of the governors?
Many times. We visited (former) governor Fayemi. We wrote letters and we also explored some appropriate quarters on this issue, but everything was to no avail.
What were his responses to your letters and visits?
He kept promising, but to no avail till he left office.
Why do you think the former governors treated pensioners that way?
In Psychology, there is what is called individual differences. It all depends on the priority of the governor. When Segun Oni was the governor of the state, he prioritised the payment of pensions and gratuities and did not owe pensioners a dime before he left office. Those who came after him, Fayemi and Fayose, shunned the idea of paying gratuities and pensions and even check-off dues that they deducted from our pensions. That was why I said it was callous.
Recently, Fayemi accused pensioners of not taking the opportunity of the plan he put in place to defray the backlog of gratuities. What was the plan and how will you react to the accusation?
I do not want to call that a blatant lie. It is a fact he organised for the capital market to pay the humongous arrears of gratuities owed us. We agreed together to settle for 15 per cent, that is, each willing pensioner would forfeit 15 per cent of their gratuity to be paid. All along, we just discovered that they printed out some forms for the pensioners to fill out. What we saw on the forms was 25 per cent to be forfeited whereas the agreement was a forfeiture of 15 per cent of the gratuities. As a result, the pensioners reacted that the agreement was 15 per cent and not 25 per cent. That was where the problem started. The government of Fayemi denied knowledge of the issue of 25 per cent, but it took no step about it. The forms were signed, the local and state governments were on the forms, and somebody signed on behalf of the state government. As I speak with you, nobody was questioned, queried, or penalised for the 25 per cent on the forms of which the state government denied knowledge of.
After the denial, why didn’t you make further moves to the state government so that you could go ahead with the 15 per cent agreed on?
We wrote letters. We went on air, saying it emphatically for the people and government to hear what actually happened and how it all went wrong. Again, all our efforts were to no avail.
As pensioners, how do you think the state government can pay you and how do you think the matter can be resolved?
That was why we put everything before God. Only God can solve this problem for us. That is why we are praying and appealing to the newly sworn-in governor to accede to our requests, to include us on the priority list.
When Fayemi and Fayose were in office, did you make any effort to put their governments on their toes to make them pay?
We tried all we could. We visited them, we wrote letters, and we made addresses to the press, but none yielded results.
Did you consider taking steps to ensure that pensioners’ matters became an issue for the election of governors in the state?
During the electioneering, the candidates visited our (pensioners’) secretariat to tell us their agenda for the state and we had a sort of memorandum which they signed. We wrote everything about the plight of pensioners there and each of them promised that if elected they would find solutions to the problems.
Does this imply the new governor signed the memorandum?
Yes, he signed as a candidate then. We have copies and he has a copy too. We also gave copies to people who matter as living witnesses.
He has spent nearly four weeks in office as governor. Have you seen signs that he will abide by the commitment?
It is not possible to judge a book by its cover until you read what is inside the book. We are praying fervently that he lives up to all his promises.
On pensions and gratuities, what are your expectations from the new governor?
He made promises, and with our prayers, God will take absolute control of everything.
Are pensioners in Ekiti State satisfied with the review of pensions?
Throughout the country, it is only federal pensioners that are enjoying pension adjustment. None of the states in the federation has acceded to the adjustment. That is why in a state like Ekiti, there are pensioners that receive N4,000 monthly as pension, despite the constitutional stipulation that pensions are supposed to be reviewed every five years or whenever the salary of workers is reviewed. Nothing is being done about pensions.
Is pension review part of your expectations from the new governor?
It is part of what we put down as our plights before Governor Oyebanji.
But why do you think state governments are reluctant on the issue of pension adjustment?
The state governors, owing to the federal system operated in the country, are autonomous. They can do and undo. They take other things as their priorities excluding the plight of pensioners.
What are those things listed as your plight in the memorandum?
First and foremost is the payment of the humongous gratuities owed us, regular payment of pensions, payment of arrears of pension, payment of our check-off dues, and other welfare needs of our pensioners.
There is always the excuse that the revenue accruable to the state is small. What do you expect the governor to do in this case as far as the pensioners’ matter is concerned? Or do you subscribe to the idea of going to borrow money to settle pension arrears?
Earlier, I said it depends on the priority of every governor. Despite the low revenue, the governors are embarking on some projects. If I may ask: which is better between human lives and the projects such as making culverts, building markets, etc? Saving human lives is better and should be prioritised. It is a matter of priority. If a governor’s priorities the payment of pensions and gratuities, pensioners’ dues will be paid. That is why we are appealing to the new governor to include our matter in his priorities.
What will your members do if the governor turns a blind eye to your plight?
There is nothing we can do. As the elderly, we use our tongues and grey hair to pray. But I will advise the new governor to find a solution to these problems we have mentioned – gratuities and pensions (prompt payment, settlement of arrears, and review). Also, he should not joke about the issue of payment of our check-off dues, that is what we use to carry out our day-to-day activities at the secretariat. The non-payment of this is tantamount to killing the union. We are appealing to the new state governor to find a solution to this.
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