In fact, the government will need an estimated N2 billion to fully clear the pensions arrears of the retirees and calm their frayed nerves, according to the Interim Chairman of the Delta-North Contributory Pension Scheme Retirees Association, Mr. Uwhen Ededijala.
Ededijala told The Guardian Monday in Asaba that pensioners’ situation have become so bad and inflicted deep wound in the psyche of the senior citizens while so many have died in penury, waiting in vain for months and years for the fruits of their labour.
Responding, Chairman of the state Bureau of Pensions, Mrs. Christiana Siapkere, admitted that pensioners who left in 2012 and in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, are yet to be settled but assured that the government was determined to settle them soonest and was very concerned about their plight.
Siapkere said only recently, the government made available a sum of N1 billion to offset the arrears of pensioners for 2011, adding that just like any new scheme, there are bound to be problems. He said he was confident that by next year, the problem will be solved.
Ededijala traced the genesis of the problem to 2007 when the scheme started, noting that the government failed to remit money to the pensions fund administrators over the years ever since the scheme started.
He said: “It is disheartening to know that some of our members who retired in 2010, 2011, 2012 and in the first quarter of 2013 are yet to be paid their full pensions benefit. This because they were paid less than half of the money as a result of the template they used. So many retirees have died without receiving their money. The government should meet our demands because we are desperate.”
Their chairman, a former staff of the state-owned Delta Broadcasting Station (DBS), Asaba, said when he retired last year, it was with high hopes that he stormed his pensions fund administrator but was disillusioned when he was told that the government was yet to pay its contribution and he was yet to recover from the shock.
He said a series of letters written to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan have been unanswered, stressing that the N1 billion, which was approved early this year, was grossly inadequate.
The Pensions Bureau boss remarked that the senior citizens have every reason to be hopeful considering the fact that the 2011 batch of retirees have been paid, assuring that the government will offset the arrears of the 2012 pensioners.
As for the 2013 retirees, Mrs. Siakpere said they just have to be patient as the 2013 budget, which was recently signed into law by Uduaghan is yet to start running.
Delta pensioners threaten protest over N2 billion arrears
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