BY LAW IBITOYE
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, South West Zone, has commended governors of their various states for improving payment of Pensioners and defraying backlogs of gratuities
The senior citizens who appreciated the recent improvement which had positive impacts in their daily lives however rejected the seventy thousand minimum wage agreement between Nigeria Labour Congress and Federal government, saying the hike in price of petroleum before implementation of the minimum wage has made the agreement nullity.
The Pensioners made their positions known during the Zone’s meeting held in Ado Ekiti on Thursday. The Public Relations Officer, NUP, South West Zone, Com( Dr) Olusegun Abatan who doubles as the Secretary of Oyo State said the Seventy thousand naira minimum wage was not tenable.
He advised the Labour Union to return to the negotiation table and stick to the initial two hundred and fifty thousand minimum wage. He added that the federal government had cornered them because the union leaders were naive and inexperienced.
The PRO said” There are two burning issues that we need to discuss and put to the public. The first issue is the agreement between Labour and the federal government over the minimum wage of N70,000. We found out that before the N70,000 was even implemented, the federal government had gone ahead to increase the price of petrol, and the two labour centers that went for the negotiation, went there blindfolded; they went there as naive as it came, they forgot that when you are dining with the devil, your spoon must be very long, and when you are dining with politicians, your spoon must be longer than the spoon you want to use to dine with the devil.
So, the federal government took advantage of the naivety and inexperience of Comrade Ajaero and Osita by tricking them to accept N70,000 and that the government will not increase fuel prices. To that extent, the Southwest is rejecting the N70,000 minimum wage that Labour has negotiated, and I advise that Labour should go back to the negotiating table and insist on the N250,000 they initially wanted, because before you know it, the N2,000 that the government has said it will increase the fuel price will eventually emerge, and in actual fact, how much is the value of that N70,000? It is just 60 liters of fuel”
Speaking on the implementation of local Government autonomy, the Pensioners applauded and supported the judgement.The body advocated increment in the salaries of local Government workers, teachers and traditional rulers. According to him ” We arrived at the following decision: that the Nigeria Union of Pensioners wholeheartedly supports local government autonomy, but with one condition. That in whatever agreement, the salaries of local government workers should not be tampered with; the salaries of working teachers should also go up, the salaries of other local government workers should also increase, and the salaries of our chiefs and Obas should be taken care of as first-line charges. After that, the Chairmen can do whatever they want with the remaining money, but note that by the time all these things are removed from the local government account, we may go back to the zero allocation we experienced in the year 1991-1992.
So, we urge the various governments to do something to prevent a crisis from emerging at the local government level”
The body hinted that the south West Governors have been performing well recently in the payment of gratuities and pensions,
tasked them to implement the 33% pension increase and consequential adjustments before the new minimum pension or minimum wage are fully implemented, saying if not granted, all pensioners in the country will be short-changed.
The body further urged the state governors to implement the 20% pension increase, reminding them that the August 2024 pension arrears, which the federal government has issued a circular about, are yet to be paid to some of the pensioners.
The body also, appealed to the Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, to address the issue of Heritage Bank pensioners who are yet to be paid about four months’ pension.