By Igoniko Oduma - Yenagoa
Pensioners in Bayelsa State have lamented the inability of the Governor Seriake Dickson-led administration to ensure prompt and regular payment of gratuities and pension to alleviate the suffering of retirees. Chairman of the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Emmanuel Namatebe, spoke in Yenagoa.
He said that most pensioners were facing hard times. Namatebe enumerated some of the pensioners’ grievances to include non-payment of entitlements and gratuities running into several years. He also cried about the refusal of the state government to harmonize the remunerations of pensioners with salaries of serving officers since 2012. “Pensioners are owed gratuities for three, four five years. Pensions are not paid regularly. A lot of us have died while waiting for these entitlements and some of our colleagues are bedridden”, Namatebe lamented.
In a remark, the National Vice President of NUP, South-South Zone, Elder Tubonimi Sukuye, appealed to the state government to address the issues headlong.
“Our fight is not with gun or with anything but by continuing to talk as we are talking until the world hears our voice. We want people to always pray because the heart of kings are in the hands of God.
“So, we are praying that those governors who are playing with senior citizens God should touch their hears”, Sukuye stated. Reacting to the development, the state Head of Service, Fraizer Okouro, said government was putting in place measures to ensure prompt payment of pension and gratuities. He attributed government’s inability to pay to dwindling allocation to the state and urged the pensioners to exercise patience as no effort would be spared in tackling the challenge.