An inadequate number of personnel and logistics hiccups marred the verification exercise for pensioners in Osun State on Monday.
About 20 pensioners suffered exhaustion and had to be quickly attended to by paramedical personnel during the exercise held in Osogbo.
The senior citizens from across the state had converged on the venue very early and waited for the consultant and the officials to begin the exercise.
However, the number of retirees, who turned up for the exercise, overwhelmed the few officials on hand to attend to them.
The slow pace of the exercise, which angered the pensioners led to tension and the situation got worse when some of the retirees who could no longer withstand the rigour, suffered exhaustion and had to be attended to by the paramedics from the Osun Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System.
The exercise was later suspended by the Speaker of the State Assembly, Wale Egbedun, who rushed to the scene.
Some of the retirees, who spoke to our correspondent could not hide their displeasure and demanded the decentralisation of the exercise.
Pa Thomas Olagunju from Ipetu-Ijesa, Mrs Mary Iluyomade from Ikirun and Mr Akin Ajasa from Oyan, who spoke to The PUNCH, said they arrived at the venue before 7:30 am, but were not attended to on time.
Olagunju, who could barely walk, said, “I left Ipetu-Ijesa with about 10 others. We have been here since 7:30 am. Yet, we could not complete the exercise. I submitted all my documents but I could not get verified through the biometric capturing being used. I will have to repeat the journey.
“The consultant must think of decentralisation. The stress is too much. The staff members are not enough for this large number. Many of us felt exhausted and had to be attended to here. People on wheelchairs were made to come here, some could not even see, still, they all came here.”
When contacted, the Head of Operations, Osun Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said 20 pensioners who suffered exhaustion were treated and discharged.
She said, “At least about 20 people were attended to by the O’ Ambulance personnel.
None of them lost consciousness but they were weak and tired because they were elderly people and did not have enough strength.
“The place was overcrowded. The prolonged standing led to tiredness. Those are the cases that we attended to by checking their blood pressure. No incident of collapse.”
Following the development, the state government announced that all bedridden and health-challenged pensioners would henceforth have their audit exercise conducted through telephone.
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. Kolapo Alimi, in a statement, said added that, “Pensioners outside the state at the moment no longer need to travel down to Osun State as they will also be having their screening through the telephone. Additionally, pensioners in the diaspora will also be screened only through video calls.
“In line with the above, the Pension Board is expected to make available all the particulars, especially pictures of pensioners to the consultant, for ease of identification during the video call screenings.”
