Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme Welfare Association in Edo State, have groaned that they have been badly treated not minding that they have served the state for thirty five years.
They made the revelation while on a visit to the state Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by their Chairman, Andrew Asemota.
Asemota dislosed that they were compelled to enrol into the scheme which was not favourable to them by the previous administration considering the number of years they have put into the service.
“In 2010, the Adams Oshiomhole government passed a bill and said those with less than ten years to leave service should be exempted for the Contributory Pension Scheme. The idea was that, those who are to be in the Contributory Pension Scheme when they retire, will be paid their gratuity and monthly pension from what they contributed.
“But in January 2017, all of a sudden, during the era of the former governor, Godwin Obaseki that came to power in November 2016, workers in Edo State just saw sudden reduction from our January salaries. For what reason? Nobody was able to explain. In February, it was the same thing.
“Then in March 2017, it was the same thing. All of a sudden in a commando style, we saw financial institutions in all MDAs saying that they should be mandated to come and enrol workers into the Contribution Pension Scheme. That was why the deduction started in January 2017.
“So, that was how the 10 years bill passed by Adam Oshiomhole was thrown aside. Eventually, when we retired from January 2022, when it was time to pay us our gratuity, we discovered that even those on grade level 17 were paid as gratuity less than N2.7 million.
“Those who retired from grade level 16 after thirty five years got less than N2.3 million. It started going down like that. And eventually it got to a state where some retirees were paid N800,000 for thirty five years and were paid off. And since that date till today, those ones no longer receive N1 as monthly pension.”
He disclosed that their appeal to then Governor Obaseki’s intervention was of no effect adding as at the time they were introduced into the scheme most of them were already at the verge of retirement.
“Most of us joined the service when it was Bendel State. Not when it was even Edo State. Most of us at that time, have already spent more than twenty seven years in the service,” Asemota said.
He said that there is urgent need for the present administration to look into the scheme so that, the lives of those who have retired from the service and those who are about to be retired will not be miserable.
According to him,”most of our members are dying. Most of our members that are already ageing also have one ailment or the other to contend with. Some of them have children in school. Some of them have no house of their own.”
He appealed to the media to echo their plight “so that the government can also hear that this is exactly what we are facing.”
In his response, Festus Alenkhe, the Chairman of the Edo State Council of the NUJ assured the retirees that the media is throwing its weight behind them. He appealed to the state government to carry out investigations into the scheme to find out why some of the pensioners were being paid little out of their contributions.
He also charged the retirees to forward a petition to the state House of Assembly calling for a review of the scheme so as to address their grouse.
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