We’re Yet To Receive Our Entitlements, Kano Pensioners Cry Out

The chairman, Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Kano State chapter, Alhaji Salisu Ahmed, says over 3,000 pensioners that retired from 2016 to 2018 are yet to receive their gratuities.

Ahmed revealed this on Monday when he led other members of the Union to pay a courtesy visit to the Speaker, Kano State House of Assembly Alhaji Abdulazeez Garba-Gafasa.

He said, “Over 3,000 of our members that retired from the state civil service from 2016 to 2018 have not received a single Kobo as their gratuity. This has caused a lot of hardship to our members, some of them have even died without getting their entitlement.

“This is worrisome and has become necessary for us to voice it out because many of them are going through a lot of challenges due to the non-payment of their entitlement.

“Therefore, we are calling on the speaker to intervene on the issue so as to bring to an end the suffering of our members”.

He explained that two committees were set up to look into the issues of pensioners in the state pointing out that they have completed their assignment but yet nothing has been done by the State government.

He also called on the state government to sell the houses allocated to them at some of the housing estates built by the previous administration as their members could not afford to pay N22 million for each of the houses allocated to them.

“We are calling on the state government to sell those houses which were built by the administration of the former Gov. Rabi’u Kwankwaso with the pensioners’ fund”, he said.

He alleged that the Ministry for Local Government and the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) are the major government parastatals that have not been remitting the pension deduction made for the civil servants.

In his remarks, the Speaker called on the union to meet Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje with a view to presenting their grievances again.

He assured the union that the assembly would do everything possible to ensure that the problem was solved.

The Speaker then summoned the Ministry for Local Governments and SUBEB to appear before the assembly over the pensioners’ issue.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Executive Chairman, Kano State Pension Fund Trustee, Alhaji Sani Dawaki, confirmed that over 3,000 retirees have not been paid their gratuity.

He said as, at today, the pension fund trustee has over 29,000 pensioners on their patrol.

Dawaki admitted that “since the inception of this administration, SUBEB, which has a high number of staff has not been remitting the 17 percent that they are supposed to pay.

“The law says that eight percent should be deducted from the civil servants, while the 17 percent should be paid by the organization that employed them, which he said it is the same issue with the Local Governments. (NAN)