The Labour Party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has denounced governments for delaying the payment of seniors’ pensions and gratuities.
Numerous pensioners nationwide are reportedly unable to meet their basic needs and maintain their health due to government delays in disbursing their entitlements, according to Obi.
The leader of the Labour Party told him about an elderly retiree who told him about her situation in Nsukka, Enugu State, on Saturday due to her pension not being paid. He made this revelation in a statement on Sunday.
I’m extremely concerned about the level of insensitivity that permeates Nigeria’s institutional and political leadership after having a terrifying interaction with an old woman yesterday (Saturday).
“During my official visit to Shanahan College of Nursing Sciences, Nsukka, I was mingling with the administration and students when I spotted an elderly woman who was having a very difficult time speaking to me.
She was pushed away and silenced by those around her, but I immediately asked to speak with her and hear her tale.
She identified herself as an ex-civil servant who spent the majority of her fruitful life serving the country.
She bemoaned the fact that she had not received her pension for some time. The fact that she had been ill and hospitalized for more than a week, with medical costs, yet her first concern was that she didn’t even have one Naira to buy food, was even more tragic.
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My feelings of sadness and rage surged. rage at leaders like me who have made life miserable for others by denying them the rewards of their labor out of selfishness and an unquenchable desire for worldly possessions. Then sympathy for the elderly woman and countless more like her whose distressing tales could never be told,” he explained.
Anambra State’s former governor urged governments to give retirees’ care first priority.
“That’s the country where we reside.” a country completely devoid of compassion and empathy.
It is terrible of any government to deny our elderly citizens their pensions and gratuities during their vulnerable years, as I have stated and continue to do. I inherited and paid off more than ₦30 billion in pensions and gratuities that had accrued over the years as a governor because I was aware of the suffering that the elderly were going through.
I offered her my meager assistance right away and pledged to follow up with the hospital administration on her situation.
“But since no one can speak for them, I am more worried about the numerous others who are dying in quiet around the country, just like her. We have to repair this country. Everyone in Nigeria must work hard, and they will all receive the benefits they deserve for their great achievements, he said.
