Retired civil servant attempted suicide over unpaid benefits

A retired civil servant in Bauchi State has been rescued from committing suicide over non-payment of his entitlements. The man, whose name was given as Alhamdu was said to have attempted committing suicide on Monday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Bauchi. He was however stopped by the state NUJ Assistant Secretary, Comrade […]

A retired civil servant in Bauchi State has been rescued from committing suicide over non-payment of his entitlements.

The man, whose name was given as Alhamdu was said to have attempted committing suicide on Monday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Bauchi.

He was however stopped by the state NUJ Assistant Secretary, Comrade Kabiru Garba, when he arrived the scene.

Speaking to journalists on the incidence, Garba said, “He said he came here at about 7am. I saw him half naked with a rope in his hand, in fact, he had tied one end to the mango tree within the NUJ secretariat premises and was sitting on a chair. So I asked him what he was doing there at that time of the day.

“He told me he arrived the NUJ and wanted to kill himself with the rope. I asked him why he wanted to do that, and why in the NUJ secretariat,” he said.

The man reportedly told Garba that he came from Ningi about 31 days ago, arrived Bauchi and proceeded to Potiskum in Yobe State with a plan to go to Sambisa so that he can be killed by Boko Haram but later changed his mind and came back to Bauchi.

When he was asked about the reason he wanted to take his own life, he was said to have told the NUJ assistant secretary that he was HIV positive and could not pay his huge debts due to the non-payment of his entitlements.

“He told me he was a teacher in Ningi LGA who had spent 35 years in service and had retired but his gratuity had not been paid. He said he wanted to give two of his daughters out in marriage and took loans from different people amounting to over N800,000 and  the people have been pursuing him to pay them their money,” Kabiru said.

He said the man claimed that his gratuity was about N1.6 million.

“He told me that if the state government did not pay him his entitlements this week, he will kill himself.

“So I convinced him follow me  my car to the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners. The chairman addressed him and pleaded with him not to kill himself,” he said.

According to Garba, the man was told that his gratuity was not even with the state government but with the local government and was then referred to the appropriate place to lay his complaint.