Pensioners lament N450 monthly payment inadequate with high cost of essential items
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Pensioners have lamented how life has become impossible for some of them who receive only N450 monthly from their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) in the face of economic hardship and rising cost of living.
Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) President Godwin Abumisi made the point in Abuja where he said pensioners are reeling under severe hardship and the government does not care about the poor masses.
“In Nigeria, the government does not think about the poor people. Otherwise, how can pensioners in Enugu receive as low as N450 as a monthly pension? And we have been saying this, but it seems as if we are crying wolf, but it is a reality,” he moaned.
Other citizens have begun protesting against hunger caused by the policies of President Bola Tinubu.
Abumisi said most retirees receive between N450 and N1,000 monthly pension payment, particularly in the South East.
He listed monthly pension payments in some Northern states as follows:
- Jigawa – N12,000
- Gombe – N8,000
- Katsina – N7,000
- Kogi – N5,000
- Taraba – N5,000
- Borno – N4,000
- Niger – N4,000
- Kwara – N3,000
Headline inflation rate was 28.92 per cent in December 2023, and food inflation 32.84 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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Nigerians protesting against hunger caused by high inflation, insecurity.
Police said they used “minimum force” to disperse people protesting over hunger in Minna on January 12 but that did not stop the agitation from spreading up North to Kano and down South to Osogbo.
Hunger has arisen mainly from the jumping prices of goods and services stoked by high transportation costs as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy; coupled with insecurity, particularly in the North where terrorists prevent farmers from harvesting crops.
The protesters in Kano lamented the closure of the border with Niger Republic, a major farm produce trade route with Nigeria’s neighbour, as well as hunger and their inability to pay their children’s school fees, among other grouses.
Female bakers in Kano had earlier protested over the high prices of flour and other baking ingredients which have impacted negatively on their means of livelihood.
Amid the protests, news broke on Monday a number of travellers from Umuahia in two luxury buses heading to Abuja were kidnapped in Inyele Eteke in Kogi last weekend.
Social media influencer Chude Nnamdi announced on his X (Twitter) handle the two buses belong to God Is Good (GIG) and ABC transport companies.
Nnamdi disclosed his wife was on one of the buses but he could not ascertain the total number of passengers on the two buses who were kidnapped along with his wife.
He said the criminals demanded a N15 million ransom to release his wife.
Kogi Police Public Relations Officer William Aya, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident but said he could not ascertain the total number of passengers affected.
Kogi terror comes after Ekiti relief
The Kogi terror incident happened a day after five pupils of Apostolic Faith Secondary School (AFSS), Emure, Ekiti and four staff members of the school were released by terrorists who abducted them on January 29.
Isaac Adigun, the District Superintendent of Apostolic Faith Church, West and Central Africa (WECA), announced the release at the Anthony, Lagos WECA headquarters during Church service on Sunday February 4.
He said N15 million was paid as ransom by the relatives of the victims who beat down the amount from N100 million initially demanded by the kidnappers.
But the driver of the bus from which the criminals snatched the victims – later identified as Taye Rasaki – was killed in captivity, Adigun lamented.