Penshioners (File Photo)
Stakeholder in the Kwara State Local Government Pensioners
Association have decried the death of pensioners due to unpaid salaries,
describing the trend as sad and unacceptable.
According to Daily Post, the stakeholders who spoke through the
Chairman of the association, Mr. lsiaka Akanbi, said no fewer than 1,005
of its members had died since April 2015.
Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital on Saturday, the
chairman urged relevant authorities to urgently effect the payment of
pension arrears to senior citizens.
Akanbi said the victims, who cut across the 16 Local Government
Councils of the state, died as a result of their inability to get
adequate health care attention.
“Among them were the state factional Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, Mr. Sunday Fagbemi; a former PDP governorship aspirant
in the state, Mr. Sunday Babalola; and the President, Afonja
Descendants Union, Mr. Olola Kasum. No fewer than 3,000 of the
pensioners were unable to buy drugs for their ailments.
“We have suffered unprecedented discrimination since Ahmed came
to power in the state. We are senior citizens and deserve fair
treatment. The number of our members who have died is the greatest in
comparison with any other sector in the state,” the Chairman said,
pleading with the state Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, to come to their aid
by ensuring the payment of their pension arrears.
On his part, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and
Communication, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, said the governor was saddened by
the plight of the local government pensioners.
While calling on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal
Government to intervene and assist the local governments to pay the
arrears in order to curtail the spate of untimely deaths in the state,
Akorede blamed the drop in Federation Account allocations for the
non-payment of pensions.
He added that the state government was considering strategies to assist them within its available resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment