Assistant Editor (South South), JOE EZUMA, reports on the recent protest by members of Rivers State chapter of Nigerian pensioners’ union over outstanding allowances and other benefits.
The simmering discontent within the ranks of Rivers State pensioners boiled over on Monday, February 2, 2015 when the over 11,000 senior citizens under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Rivers State chapter, poured into the streets of Port Harcourt, the state capital, demanding immediate resolution of their lingering demands.
The pensioners, who said they had borne the pains of government’s broken promises and unfulfilled assurances with subdued anger, told newsmen that they had decided to take up action this time, just as they described the Governor Rotimi Amaechi administration as inhuman and uncaring.
And the senior citizens meant business. In apparent demonstration of their resolve, they have also copied their decision to authorities and institutions such as the Department of State Security (DSS), Commissioner of Police, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Head of Service (HoS), Government House Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Finance, governorship candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dakuku Peterside; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nyesom Wike; and Labour Party (LP), Tonye Princewill, who they asked to tell the public and voters their labour and pension policies before the elections.
“We demand policy statements on pensioners from the governorship candidates of the political parties contesting the 2015 governorship elections in the state, as we have suffered untold hardship under the present regime,” the lamented.
The chairman of the union, Edward Festus-Abibo, who along with the secretary, Joseph Agbo, who addressed journalists before leading their members along Azikiwe Road to the State Secretariat and Government House, listed workers’ grouse to include non-harmonisation of pensions from 2003 to date, a shortfall they claimed amounted to over N3 billion, non-payment of monthly pension allowance of November to December 2014 and that of January 2015, adding that they “felt very aggrieved by the actions of the Rivers State government headed by Governor Chibuike Amaechi, over these issues”.
They said: “Though we may look frail and physically weak now, we represent the crop of workers that built up the Rivers State Civil Service in 1969 from Lagos to its present envious status. We are now pushed to the wall, hence our going to the public for sympathy and for public appeal to the government to pay our allowances and entitlements.
“We had previously contacted bishops and notable dignitaries in the state and beyond to appeal to the Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, to heed the various appeals we have made. We had equally carried out two peaceful public demonstrations and submitted written detailed letters to Government House, Port Harcourt over our pensions problems, but all our efforts yielded no results,” they said.
Urging the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the civil service union workers in the state to follow their protest with their own demonstrations in solidarity with the state NUP, the pensioners issued subtle threat to Amaechi and the APC in the state, saying, “We have come to the conclusion that Amaechi has not shown any kindness to pensioners by his utterances and actions. While we will not renege on our civic responsibilities as far as elections are concerned, we will reciprocate the negative reactions of the governor in our vote if there is no change of attitude by government in the handling of the affairs of the pensioners.”
They demanded that pensioners in the state be paid their three-month pension arrears by February 6, while the outstanding harmonisation of pension’s allowances be paid before February 26.
“We are aware that the Rivers State Government collected about N13 billion from the Federation Account in December 2014 and raised about N10 billion from internally-generated revenue (IGR). We are therefore at a loss why the pensioners should be made the sacrificial lamb of the political adventure of Governor Amaechi. We humbly appeal to His Excellency, the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to intervene on our behalf, since our governor is more of a campaign manager and not available to listen to our plight,” they said.
Placards wielded by the pensioners really underlined their anger. Some read: “Governor Amaechi, where is our six per cent increase of arrears? Where is our 15 per cent increase of pension arrears? Where is our three-month pension allowance? “You hate old people”, “Stop eliminating pensioners”, “Stop punishing primary school teachers”, “It is inhuman to starve pensioner”.
Government House appeared desolate for them to see who to demonstrate to. But a Permanent Secretary, Forune Ogolo, who met the protesting pensioners at the gate of Government House, advised them to exercise patience, as the governor was not in town. He assured them that their grievances would be tabled before the governor on arrival and that they would be addressed.
Observers of the pensioners’ protest in recent times are of the view that while the Nigerian electorate are becoming more enlightened, it appears to be dragging the politicians inexorably towards issue-abased politics.
Port Harcourt-based activist and coordinator of Humanity and Society, Joachim Osakwe, told TheNiche that the Nigerian voters are now learning how to use political pressure to press for their rights rather than pandering to cash and rice.
Said Osakwe: “when politicians begin to realise that their failure to address certain issues or their utterances, whether now or in the past, can injure their political future, good governance can be enhanced and society better served.”