Protests continued
yesterday at the Ibadan General Post office, Dugbe and other units in
the state which have been closed since last Thursday over the
non-payment of pensioners’ pay. Adeniyi Adeleke, national secretary of
the National Union of Pensioners (NUP), NIPOST branch, said the group
was angry with NIPOST because of its alleged “conscious efforts” to
decimate their ranks.
Mr. Adeleke said
that despite the fact that the federal government had made provisions
for their money in the 2010 budget, his members were only paid up till
May last year, while the remainder is yet to be paid.
The NIPOST
pensioners had similarly shut all post offices across the country in
late 2009 over the non-payment of their entitlement arrears and amid
agitation for increase in their monthly pay.
Mr. Adeleke
recalled that after the protests, the leadership of NIPOST pensioners
were invited by the National Assembly’s House Committee on Pension
matters.
“After our meeting
with them, the National Assembly appropriated enough money for us that
was captured in the 2010 budget to pay for the backlog of our arrears
and upgraded our pension because NIPOST pensioners are the least paid
all over the world. We have pensioners that worked for over 30 years
and now earn about N3,000,” he said.
He further alleged
that the pensioners have evidence that the office of the Head of
Service had released the money to the NIPOST account, but the
management had channeled it to other areas.
According to Mr.
Adeleke, when the pensioners got the wind of the misappropriation, they
sought to speak with Ibrahim Mori Baba, Post Master General, “who told
us to go to blazes, that he has the right to do whatever he likes with
any money released to the NIPOST”.
Besides the denial
of payment, the pensioners were worried that the government did not
show any concern about the post office closings.
“The post office
has been closed for about seven days in not less than 17 state
capitals, yet the federal government is keeping silent,” Mr. Adeleke.
“I wonder what the Minister of Information Labaran Maku is doing.
“They are not even communicating with us at all. They are not ready
to do anything. They are only bragging that they are going to deal with
us. They should know that power does not always flow from the barrel of
the gun. We are ready to die. They say pensioners are too much in
Nigeria and want to reduce us by starving us to death. Some of our
members are dying already because they lack the money to take care of
themselves,” he said.
