Pensioners Groan Over Unpaid Three Months Allowances

Pensioners in Rivers
State have lamented over their unpaid monthly allowances since January 2015.
In a statement signed by the chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Rivers State Council, Comrade Edward Festus-Abibo and the Secretary, Comrade Joseph Agbo the union said that non-payment of the allowances for three months had caused untold  hardship to the pensioners in the state.
The statement expressed regret that pensioners in the state had not been paid from January 2015 till date while politicians and other workers had received their salaries and allowances.
It also disclosed that members protested twice before they were paid their December 2014 allowance, during which they lost two of their colleagues, adding that with the current situation some of them had been sent to their early graves for lack of medical care and starvation.
According to the statement, “Pensioners in the state are owed six per cent with effect from October 1, 2003 and 15 per cent with effect from July 1, 2007, which had been computed and sent to the Governor for approval and release of fund since two years ago, but all to no avail.”
It also stated that an increase of 33 per cent was approved with effect from July 1, 2010, but that the state government had refused to implement it.
The statement therefore, called on the State Government to pay them their allowances and other outstanding increments from 2003 till date.

Collins Barasimeye