Pensioners in Zamfara State have described the funds they receive as pension as paltry compared to other states of the federation.
Some of the pensioners who spoke to our correspondent said that they are only existing and not living, following the rate of inflation in the country.
Investigations show that past governors in the state have never given pensioners their welfare based on policy but on personal decision.
Our correspondent gathered that twenty-five years after the creation of Zamfara State between, no government in the state has ever reviewed the pension and welfare package of pensioners.
According to one Ibrahim Jibril, a pensioner who spoke to our reporter, “if you go to either the state or local government pension board, one’s eyes would be filled with hot tears when you see the plight of the state pensioners”.
“Let me tell you nothing but the truth, a retired Director who served with the state government does not receive more than #20,000 per month while a retired Director who served the Local Government council does not go home with more than N15,000 per month” Jibril lamented.
Another pensioner, Usman Dan Gusau said even after collecting their meagre pensions, some staff of the pension office often complement their meagre pensions with some cash from their pockets out of sympathy.
Dan Gusau maintained that many pensioners have died due to frustration while waiting for their gratuity even though they were not even paid until they met their demise after serving the government for 35 years.
“The present administration led by Hon. Bello Mohammed Matawalle should not tow the path of his predecessors. The governor is expected to make history by reviewing the pension and welfare of the pensioners that have been denied them for decades” he lamented.
When this reporter visited both the state and local government pension commissions, all the senior officers declined comments, saying that they have no power to comment on policy issues.
One of the pensioners who said he does not want his name in print said” the state government should know that the pensioners, serving civil servants, business people and politicians enter the same markets and buy at the same price “he lamented.
He called on the state government to as a matter of urgency review the pension and welfare packages of the pensioners in the state, saying that they have faithfully served their father land but were being rewarded with wickedness.
According to him, the state government would not succeed in its attempt to wipe out the Almajiris from the streets if abject poverty and starvation continue to ravage the entire state, pointing out that most of the Almajiris are the children of nobodies in the society including the pensioners whom the state government has refused to carter for.
