Retirees call for creation of pension ministry

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has called on the Buhari-led administration to create of a full-fledged Ministry of Pension and Senior Citizens Affairs same as the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. The President of NUP Comrade Abel Afolayan made the call in his address at the 2019 18th edition of the Pensioners […]

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has called on the Buhari-led administration to create of a full-fledged Ministry of Pension and Senior Citizens Affairs same as the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

The President of NUP Comrade Abel Afolayan made the call in his address at the 2019 18th edition of the Pensioners Day held in Abuja, recently and read simultaneously at all state capitals in the country.

Comrade Abel said the ministry, when created, would cater y for the whole welfare of pensioners, old people, senior citizens throughout the country as is practiced in developed countries of the world.

The union also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the federal government reverted to its regular payment of 5% counterpart fund into local government fund which was stopped some time ago without reason whatsoever.

The NUP president lamented that the stoppage of the payment has adversely affected regular payment of monthly pension to local government pensioners and primary school pensioners who are being paid from the fund.

On minimum pension, the NUP lamented that government has not complied with the Nigeria’s Constitution Section 173 (3) and 210 (3) which stated that “pension should be reviewed every five years or whenever workers’ wages are reviewed or whichever comes first”.

Even though the provision applies equally to federal and state governments, the union stated that none of the two tiers of government has adhered to it.

Comrade Afolayan said pensioners were due for pension review in 2015 but they were not considered for any that year, adding that the increase that accrued from the 2010 review was also yet to be paid by many states.