President Nigeria
Labour Congress, (NLC) Comrade Ayuba
Wabba has called for an upward review of pension to help minimise economic
hardship facing pensioners.
Wabba said this at the
16th edition of Pensioners Day Celebration in
Abuja.
He said that the
review of pension was long overdue, saying Federal and State government had
been adhering to the constitutional provision.
“Section173(3) and
210(3) of the federal republic of Nigeria constitution 1999 (as amended)
stipulate that pension be reviewed every five years or together with any
increase in workers’ wages.’’
According to him, it
is criminal that federal government pays N4000 as pension to some pension in
this hard economy, if we want a better Nigerian than we must be willing to take
care of our pensioners and workers.
“ Our country is so
blessed with various resources but it is a pity that we cannot account how it
been spent.
He commended President
Muhammadu Buhari for releasing the bailout fund to states to pay pensioners and
workers, urging that government monitors and make them accountable on how the
money was been spent.
He said government
needs to take care of the security and welfare of its people in other to avert
some of the security challenges in the country.
He appealed to
pensioners to support one another, adding that the NLC will continue to show
their support and solidarity.
Executive Secretary of
Pension Transitional Administration Directorate, Ms Sharon Ikeazor, said the
payroll for pensioners for December was ready and pensioners would get their
pension before Christmas.
“ We got
releases to pay six months out of 12 months been owed civil
service pension out of the 36 month we have paid six month out of it.
“ For police pension
we paid them one year out of the 33 months and we just have a balance for 12
months for police pensions.
“Government is making
the money available we will pay up,” she said.
She said the essence
of the verification was to make sure pensioners were fully capture so that
there would not be need for them to come back again.
Ikeazor promised that
by the first quarter of 2018 the directorate would pay the arrears of the 33
per cent increase
0 Comments