By Correspondent in Abuja.
The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has decried reports that Nigerian pensioners are considering a nationwide protest over unpaid arrears, describing their plight as “unjust and unacceptable.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Obi stressed the need fot the Federal Government to prioritize pension payments, despite recently declaring that the country had achieved its revenue target.
“Just last month, Mr. President announced that Nigeria had reached its revenue target. If that is true, then the moral question is simple: why are our senior citizens, who worked, served, and sacrificed, still owed their rightful pensions and gratuities?” Obi queried.
He emphasised that growth in government revenue should translate into tangible relief for citizens, particularly retirees who devoted their most productive years to national service.
“Revenue growth should first reflect in the lives of the people, especially those in difficult times. The excess revenue we celebrate today must not remain on paper. It must be directed to settle our obligations to pensioners, to restore their dignity, and to assure the working population that Nigeria values their labour and service,” he added.
Obi emphasized that the purpose of governance must be rooted in compassion, insisting that “good leadership and compassion are inseparable.”
Our correspondent recalls that
the Coalition of Federal Pensioners of Nigeria has threatened to stage a nationwide naked protest on October 6 if the Federal Government fails to implement long-promised pension increments and palliatives.
The coalition’s National Chairman, Mr. Mukaila Ogunbote, who also heads the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NIPOST Chapter, made this known at a news conference in Lagos on Tuesday,saying pensioners had given the government until September to settle arrears, increments and palliatives.
Ogunbote recalled that in October 2023, President Bola Tinubu approved N35,000 for workers and N25,000 for pensioners as palliatives, noting that pensioners were yet to get their own.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
