Pensioners Debunk Division Within Union

The Nigerian Union of
Pensioners (NUP) has debunked an alleged factionalisation within the union in the country.
In a statement signed by its National President, Comrade Abel Afolayan in Abuja last Wednesday said NUP was the only recognised umbrella body of all pensioners in the country contrary to the claim and position of the Federal Pensioners Association (FPA).
NUP President said by the union’s Constitution, Rule 3 expressly stated that members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners shall be drawn from  the civil service, be it federal or state including the local government, pensioners from statutory corporations, government-owed companies or parastatals, educational institutions, private sector pensioners among others.
Afolayan said the leadership of NUP is drawn from the federal, state, parastatals and local government branches of the union.
He said the national leadership of the union is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of other established structures of the union, stressing that the recognized branches Executive of the union in the country are members of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) and National Administrative Council (NAC) of the union.
He denied the insinuation that NUP is an association of pensioners from the state and local governments only in the country, stressing that those with such notion do not only portray ignorance and mischievous intention but a malicious distortion of obvious facts.
The union boss accused people parading themselves as representatives of the federal pensioners as losers of elections into the union’s various leadership positions stressing that there is no recognized body called federal pensioners Association (FPA).
Afolayah also called on the pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD) under the federal ministry of Finance to speed up the payment of the 54.3% pension arrears that was slashed to 33%.
The union charged the PTAD to redouble its effort in the payment of various categories of outstanding arrears of pension to its deserving members, most especially the payment of the long overdue arrears.
He said the improvised and the enraged pensioners in the country are tired and fed-up with their empty and endless promise of the federal government over non-payment of their legitimate entitlements.
It would be recalled that recently some retired federal pensioners had formed the federal pensioners Association (FPA) Claiming and Maintaning that the retired federal workers union is independence of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP).