By John Owen Nwachukwu
Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, has claimed that a total of 1,126,000 pensioners in Kwara state alone, have died between January 2015 and February, 2017 awaiting their pensions from the state government.
The union accused the state government of being the cause of the death of local government pensioners.
They also claimed that over 1000 of its members died as a result of lack of money to meet their medications in the hospital.
Chairman of the Kwara chapter of the Union, Isiaka Akanbi, while addressing a press conference in Ilorin, the state capital, yesterday, gave names of four pensioners who died recently in Ifelodun Local Government Area to include one Garba Okoye, N.S Alabi, 72, Mrs. John, 62, and Alashi, 68.
He further revealed that about 6,000 local government pensioners, primary and junior secondary schools teachers across the 16 LGAs of the state, were being owed N5billion unpaid gratuities.
Akanbi said the last payment of gratuity to retirees from the 16 Local Government workers and teachers was 10 years ago, accusing the state government of, “stagnation of payment of gratuities, non-implementation of 20% harmonisation of year 2010 salary increase.”
Akanbi, however, called on the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who was a former governor of the state, to prevail on the governor to pay his members’ pensions and gratuities with a view to alleviating their hardships.
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