BLESSING AFOLABI writes about the plight of pensioners, struggling to access their entitlements after about 35 years of service
Decked in black attire like mourners, tens of aggrieved, hungry-looking, aged retirees congregated in front of the Delta State Government House, on Monday, November 28, 2022, holding placards.
The placards had various inscriptions: “Wicked Okowa, pay us our pensions”; “Okowa, fear God and pay our money, retirees are suffering” and “Okowa, you owe the living and the dead”, among others.
The senior citizens from primary schools across 25 local government areas of the state, with frustration etched all over their faces, sat on mats and the bare ground, hindering vehicular movement to and fro the government house whilst they displayed the medications they lived on daily.
They vowed aloud to remain there until the governor addressed them in person.
One of the retirees, Patrick Lori, told our correspondent that pensioners in the state were being owed since 2015 despite serving meritoriously for 35 years, hence the protest.
The Delta case is not an isolated one. Across different states in Nigeria, pensioners are having hard times and are increasingly taking to the streets in protest, chanting anti-government songs to register their grievances.
On October 6, 2022, hundreds of distressed pensioners in Kano State marched from the Audu Bako Secretariat to the state’s Government House, peacefully protesting the non-payment of their accumulated entitlements totalling N30.9bn.
In the course of the protest, there were reports that one of the pensioners collapsed out of exhaustion.
Their colleagues in Imo, Niger, Anambra, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Calabar, and Ogun states have followed suit in protests.
In January this year, pensioners in Ekiti State went spiritual after several protests to make the government clear their backlog of unpaid pension running into N1.8bn yielded no result.
The chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners in the state, Mr Joel Akinola, who spoke during the special prayer session in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where some of the pensioners betrayed emotions and burst into tears, lamented that the state government had abandoned them despite investing their active years into civil service.
The NUP Secretary, Azeez Agbaje, said the pensioners decided to change tactics by resorting to fasting and prayers to God, so He could touch the heart of the governor to pay them their entitlements.
“One with God is a majority. If we have problems, we have to call on God. We, as pensioners here, have no other option than to call for the help of the Supreme Being for solutions.
“It is a pity a lot of our people have died. We have lost over 300 people. Many others are sick. Over 400 are bedridden because of the non-payment of their gratuities and pension arrears. Pensioners are elderly people. We need money for our welfare – feeding and drugs – to cater to our ailments as aged people. Our members have children that are unemployed and need to be catered for but we are made to suffer despite our meritorious service to the state and nation,” Agbaje said.
The state governments always cite paucity of funds as the reason the pensioners are being owed, but Agbaje said it was a problem of misplaced priorities.
A 66-year-old retired Ekiti teacher, Mr Olagoke Ogunbiyi, told Sunday PUNCH that since retiring in 2016 he had yet to receive his gratuity.
He said, “We are not happy with the outcome of things. All our efforts with the past government to ensure we get paid were futile. Many of our members are old, and others have died without getting the money they worked for. It has been an extremely tough time for pensioners in the state. We are being deprived of our means of livelihood.”
The sexagenarian said it was bad enough that the pension was a mere pittance, yet it was not being released to them.
“There are pensioners that receive N4,000 monthly as pension, despite the constitutional stipulation that pensions are supposed to be reviewed every five years or whenever the salary of workers is reviewed. Nothing is being done about pensions,” he said.
Inside Nigeria’s pension law
On its website, the National Pension Commission defines retirement benefits as “any entitlements/rights/privileges that accrue to a worker/employee upon leaving the services of an employer for the reason of having worked or provided service to the employer.”
It added that “such benefits could be paid in either lump sum, periodically or a combination of both, and such arrangements could include multiple benefits and severance arrangements.”
Further still, the body noted that the promulgation of the Pension Reform Act did not stop the payment of gratuity, or any form of severance benefits that existed before June 2004. Instead, it recognises the need for employers to honour their agreement with employees, giving place for collective bargaining for enhanced retirement entitlements.
But in spite of the provisions, the hope of being paid pensions has become a mirage for millions of senior citizens in the country.
No fewer than 22 out of the 36 states in the country have backlogs of unpaid pensions.
Three months ago, while pensioners in Niger State staged a protest, one of them, Ibrahim Mahmud, said despite several bailouts and Paris Club funds the state received, pensioners were not paid.
In September, angry pensioners in Ogun State protested the alleged non-payment of their N68bn gratuities arrears by the state government for 12 years.
In April, retired civil servants in Abia State protested 38-month pension arrears and 20 years of gratuities.
It is the same scenario in Rivers State.
Questionable life pensions for govs, others
Ironically, while it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a retired civil servant to get their pensions paid, many states in the country have laws providing for humongous life pensions for governors and deputy governors who serve only four or eight years.
Lagos State, which is Nigeria’s richest state, for example, has the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11 official Gazette of Lagos State, 2007.
The law stipulates that a governor, upon leaving office, is entitled (for life) to 100 per cent of the basic salary of the serving governor (N7.7m per annum), as well as free health care for himself and members of his family.
The law also states that a former governor is entitled to six new cars every three years. He is also entitled to furniture allowance, which is 300 per cent of their annual basic salary (N23.3m); house maintenance allowance, which is 10 per cent of the basic salary (N778,296); utility allowance, which is 20 per cent of the salary (N1.5m) and car maintenance allowance, which is 30 per cent of the annual basic salary (N2.3m).
Other benefits include entertainment allowance, which is 10 per cent of the basic salary (N778,296), and a personal assistant, who will earn 25 per cent of the governor’s annual basic salary (N1.9m).
The law adds that a former governor is entitled to domestic workers comprising a cook, a steward, a gardener, and others whose appointments are pensionable.
A former governor will also be entitled to eight policemen and two officials of the Department of State Services for life, according to the Lagos law.
In its pension law for ex-governors, Delta State provides a furnished duplex in Delta State or any other state in the country; medical treatment for them and members of their immediate families.
A former governor is also entitled to two vehicles, including a utility vehicle, every two years. He is also to have two armed policemen and one DSS officer; 15 days annual vacation in any place of their choice and other benefits. The ex-deputy governors are also entitled to certain perks.
For Kano State, former governors and their deputies are entitled to 100 per cent of the incumbent’s basic salary, a six-bedroomed house, and free medical treatment for them and members of their families.
Ekiti State makes provision for a life pension equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent, a well-furnished five-bedroom duplex at any location within the state, two cars, one Pilot vehicle to be replaced every three years, 300 per cent furniture allowance amid other allowances for ex-governors of the state.
Approximately 22 states including Oyo, Jigawa, Zamfara, Edo, Kwara, Yobe, Sokoto, Osun, and Rivers states offer parallel pension provisions for former governors and their deputies.
Besides, at the federal level, former presidents are paid jumbo pensions. In the 2023 appropriation budget, about N13bn was proposed for the payment of pensions to former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Heads of State, Chiefs of General Staff, retired heads of service, permanent secretaries, as well as retired heads of government agencies and parastatals.
It is instructive that the life pensions of former political office holders do not fail.
There has been no record of any of them complaining they never received it.
Indeed, Rivers State paid N695m in entitlement to Sir Celestine Omehia, whose election as a governor was nullified by the Supreme Court.
Yet, pensioners, who worked in civil service for 35 years, are not being paid their retirement entitlements.
Pension for ex-govs, others, illegal – Court
In 2019, the Federal High Court in Lagos pronounced as illegal and immoral payment of life pensions to ex-governors and their deputies who only serve for between four and eight years.
The court, in a judgment by Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, ordered the Attorney General of the Federation to take immediate legal action towards the abolishment of state laws permitting such pension arrangements.
Justice Oguntoyinbo further ordered the AGF to take steps to “seek full recovery of funds from those involved.”
The judge made the order in a judgment delivered in favour of an anti-corruption group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project.
In the public interest suit filed in 2017, SERAP had prayed the court to compel the AGF to go after and recover over N40bn collected as life pensions and emoluments by senators and ministers, who were once state governors.
In 2020, SERAP filed a suit against the 36 states of the federation over life pensions being paid to former governors and their deputies.
Though after Justice Oguntoyinbo’s judgment, the AGF, Abubakar Malami, had said he would go after states paying pensions to ex-governors and deputies, nothing has been heard of it.
Shortly after the #EndSARS protests in which millions of youths took to the streets to demand good governance, the incumbent Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced his intention to scrap the pension law for ex-governors and their deputies in the state. But years after, the governor seems to have abandoned his promise.
Unpaid gratuity, pension unfair -NUP
The South-West Publicity Secretary of NUP, Segun Abatan, said Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun states have poor records with the individual states owing about N28bn to N48bn as arrears of gratuity and pension.
Abatan noted, “The situation with pensioners is very dire. Imo State is leading other states in the federation with unpaid pensions of about 72 months. It seems as though governors of states in Nigeria converged and decided to punish pensioners treating them like trash. With the upcoming elections, many governors have abandoned their duty posts and are busy converging for different political campaign meetings all over the country. This is the saddest aspect affecting not only the pensioners but also the citizenry.”
Speaking on the clamour for a bill to be passed by the House of Representatives to punish erring governors, the publicity secretary said that the bill would amount to nothing since the law barely affects the rich and influential.
He said, “In some states, governors are on life pension and are entitled to a house that will either be built in a big city such as Abuja, Lagos, or Port Harcourt. In Nigeria, there are two types of laws, one for the poor and another for the rich. In fact, the rich almost have no law guiding them. The law will just be on paper and won’t be implemented.
“Imagine the kind of money an ex-governor or deputy who stole from the treasuries of their state receives as a life pension while a pensioner who earns N2,000 monthly are been owed for over five years. Apart from this, they are also paid other allowances running into billions of naira. With this enormous amount of money being paid to them, will one believe there is no money in Nigeria? There is huge mismanagement of funds in the country. Our president is the most paid in the world, the same applies to governors. We have to rise against this menace; that’s the only way to remedy it.”
The chairman of NUP in Ekiti State, Mr Joel Akinola, called on the government to be committed to the prompt payment of pensions and gratuities.
Akinola noted, “We have been agitating and appealing to the government to come to our rescue but they take us for granted and don’t pay attention to us or bother about our welfare because they believe pensioners cannot strike and don’t have electoral value.
“Some pensioners are in abject poverty receiving N4,000 monthly that remains unpaid or partly paid. The children meant to take care of their parents are unemployed and depend on their parents for livelihood. That is the level of hopelessness an average pensioner in Ekiti is in now. It seems the government has given pensioners a death sentence that is why we have a good number of us dying daily.”
The NUP chairman in Kogi State, Clement Ohida, also called for a review of the pension.
He added, “We are constantly in dialogue with the government to harmonise both state and Local Government pensioners. By this I mean, those who retired as far back as 2000 receiving N10,000 should be reviewed because that money amounts to nothing currently and the law supports pension increments every five years or when there is an increase in the minimum wage for existing workers.”
Similarly, the NUP General Secretary, Elder ActorZal, said, “It is our continuous plea to the government to pay up pensioners who have served their fatherland at this time when they can no longer work vigorously to survive. We keep urging the government to do what is right and pay regularly. Also, we have been hammering that the National Assembly should make non-payment of budgeted pension funds by state governments a criminal offence and sanction such erring governors, parastatals, or governments.”
A social commentator, Mr Akin Fatunke, said it was unfortunate that nearly two decades after the contributory pension was established through the Pension Reform Act of 2004, most states have yet to sign onto it.
Fatunke said states should develop the capacity to generate income internally and not depend solely on revenue from the Federal Government to survive.
He said, “The non-remittance by NNPC to the federation account no doubt puts the states under a lot of pressure on finance-related issues. For instance, Abia State is owing 20 years of gratuities and 38 months of pension arrears while Ogun State owes about nine years of gratuities and pension deductions spanning over 21 months. Others owing a huge amount of gratuities include Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Anambra, Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti, and Adamawa. Indeed, the issue of pension and gratuity is a huge challenge for sitting governors as it predates their tenure in office and is seen as inherited responsibility.”
However, he stated that some governors have not been too humble or appreciative of their poor financial state because they enjoy an extravagant lifestyle that has no affinity to the state of their states’ economy particularly in a democratic government.
Fatunke urged the governors to demonstrate greater sensitivity to the plight of the pensioners and workers, adding that the economy with galloping inflation, coupled with unpaid arrears has made life miserable for the pensioners in terms of health, feeding or being able to live in a decent environment.
He said, “It is disheartening and unacceptable that state governments are treating workers and the welfare of the pensioners in their respective states with levity. Not too long ago, some of these governors owing gratuities and pensions doled out N100m to purchase party presidential nomination forms.
“The Federal Government and the organised labour unions should put pressure on the various governors to take matters concerning pensioners very seriously and pay up the accumulated gratuities and pension without further delay.”
Similarly, another social commentator, Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye, stated that the only sustainable way to tackle the unpaid pension and gratuity issue was a forward-thinking regulation just like the recent ones being established by PENCOM.
He added that there must be regulations that empowered Pension Fund Administrators to enforce the collection of pension funds on behalf of the employees through the law court to establish a standard.
Akintujoye said, “The law should empower Pension Fund Administrators to effectively represent their clients and take the governments or companies who do not pay their staff to court on the issue. If they can effectively get a legal backing called a Locus Standi, then things will get better.”
