November 28, (THEWILL) – The industrial harmony between the organized labour and the Benue state government in recent months appears set to go sour with each other trading blames over unpaid salaries, gratuity and pension benefits of retired senior citizens running into a year now. While the government has absolved itself of alleged neglect of the plight of workers and retirees, it noted that Benue state has the third highest paying salary in the county with the domestication of PENCOM bill which seeks to end cases of non-payment of pensions.
However, a section of retired pensioners in the state civil service and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) disagrees with the government position.
To express their grievance, a group under the auspices of Aggrieved Pensioners in Benue State (APBS) held a peaceful march to protest 34 and 74 months of arrears of pension and gratuity owed them at the state and local government levels respectively.
The aggrieved pensioners who took off from Kenville Park, High Level area of Makurdi, marched round the city center chanting solidarity songs while bearing placards with inscriptions such as “All we are saying is, give us our Pension And Gratuity Mr Governor”. “Mr Governor, Defender of Benue Valley, Please, Defend Us Pensioners too, otherwise “We Die Finish”. Pay Us Our Pension And Gratuities. We Too Need Money To Eat,” among others. Chairman of the group, Mr Akosu Ugba, told journalists that they were holding a peaceful protest to demand their pay and to also let the whole world know what they are going through.
Describing non-payment of their entitlements as inhuman, Ugba said “what is happening to us is inhumanity to humanity. We have not been paid for 34 months and 74 months at state and local government respectively. Our children no longer go to school because we cannot afford their school fees. We have lost our wives to okada riders because we are no longer economically productive. Some of our people are dying because they are on special drugs; some on special diets but cannot afford it again”.
The Chairman stated that Benue pensioners are dying silently following the inhuman treatment and the attendant psychological trauma, noting that over 500 members have so far died.
“We had marched to Government House when we protested earlier but the Speaker, Mr. Titus Uba, while addressing us then, said the bailout funds released by the federal government does not cover pensions. We spent seven days and seven nights at the gate during which thugs were sent to chase us away,” he lamented.
Akosu therefore, called on the state government to pay the outstanding entitlements of 34 months for the state and 74 months arrears for local government pensioners and subsequently,be paying two months consecutively until the backlog of the arrears are cleared.
Towing the same line, the TUC, Benue State Council arising from its meeting in Makurdi, called for the suspension of the State PENCOm over the government’s alleged failure to pay its ten percent contribution. The union equally called for the refund of monies deducted from civil servants to that effect.
While expressing worry over the delay in payment of workers’ salaries running to three months, it also emphasized the urgent need for Benue State Government to clear the August, September, October, November and December Salary arrears of 2017 to end the untold hardship being faced by workers.
In a statement, the TUC Chairman, Comrade Gideon Akaa and the Secretary, Comrade James Tyokase after an emergency meeting, lamented that the development has left the workers with a huge financial gap with consequent indebtedness.
“The TUC in Benue won’t guarantee the State Government of any industrial harmony if the issues raised are not addressed within a reasonable consideration”.The statement warned.
However, the Benue State Government said it has never reneged in making its contributions to the PENCOM fund on behalf of the Benue workers. “This is a deliberate strategy to prepare the ground for our workers to be free from any encumbrances after retirement”.
Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Nathaniel Ikyur, in his reaction noted that it will therefore, be counterproductive to begin to talk of refunds to workers.
“The attention of the Benue State Government has been drawn to a press statement issued by a group of pensioners under the aegis of National Union Coalition of Aggrieved Pensioners, Benue State chapter. This statement is on the basis of non-payment of arrears of pensions, non harmonisation of pension in the state and non-payment of backlog of gratuity and pensions”.
“It should be noted that the State government, in agreement with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, who are also part of the monthly Local Government Joint Account have been paying N700m to pensioners in the state. Out of this amount, N300m is paid to local government Pensioners and N400m to state pensioners monthly”.
According to Mr. Ikyur, this has been in effect in the last six months and the government intends to sustain the policy until it is able to stabilise the payment system; noting that the government has domesticated the National Pension Commission’s Law which serves as a permanent solution to issues of retiring civil servants.
“This means that when people retire from the public service, the challenge of waiting on the government will not arise. They will be paid by their respective pension Administrators on retirement. Government notes issues raised by the aggrieved pensioners”.
Mr. Ikyur explained that most part of the backlog of the arrears were inherited, stating however, that it is not in the best interest of the state to engage what he referred to as “respected retired senior citizens” in the media space and therefore, invited the parties and engaged them in a dialogue
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