First Bank PLC retirees want increased pension payments

The retirees, under the aegis of First Bank Pensioners Association (FBPA), made the call, weekend, in Abuja during the association’s delegate conference where they said they had decided to affiliate with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) to tackle the bank on its poor treatment of pensioners.Board of Trustees’ chairman of the association Mr Bulus […]

The retirees, under the aegis of First Bank Pensioners Association (FBPA), made the call, weekend, in Abuja during the association’s delegate conference where they said they had decided to affiliate with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) to tackle the bank on its poor treatment of pensioners.
Board of Trustees’ chairman of the association Mr Bulus Dareng lamented the meagre salaries being paid to them as pension, saying it has remained a major source of incapacitation for the former workers.
A retired General Manager of the Bank, Dareng said: “Our members have been dying and the bank doesn’t care. We helped built this bank to what it is today. A lot of pensioners still receive as little as N10, 000 and N13, 000. This is almost the same amount they were being paid 30 years ago.”
Dareng, who retired about 10 years ago, added: “Look at me, for instance, after meritorious service for 35 years and retiring as general manager, I am ashamed to even tell what I earn as pension.”
He lamented that pension entitlements from First Bank are meagre, stressing that his pension was far below what his position upon retirement entitled him to get. He added that his colleagues, who retired at his level from sister organisations, enjoyed better benefits than him.
He called for pensioners to be actively involved in the management of their funds. He  decried a situation where the owners of funds were kept away from the funds management, saying “that’s the reason frauds are always associated with pension management.”