Alleviate effects of economic hardship, pensioners appeal to FG

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), on Sunday, said some retirees are still receiving N500 as monthly pension in the country

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take urgent steps to alleviate the economic hardship unleashed on Nigerians due to the recent hike in pump price of petrol.

Chief Godwin Abumis, National President of NUP, made the appeal during a news conference on Monday in Abuja.

Abumis said that it was obvious that Nigerian pensioners and other vulnerable groups were the worst hit by the subsidy removal.

He said that the situation had resulted to hyperinflation and a rise in the prices of goods and services which had negatively affected every strata of lives.

According to him, the essence of this press conference is to remind President Bola Tinubu of the devastating conditions of Nigerian pensioners.

“We are groaning and wallowing in abject poverty, and this is worsened by the avoidable incessant fuel increase that has rendered our paltry monthly pensions useless.

“Pensioners have no one in government to speak for them, and the only voice they have which is the NUP is often neglected by the authorities

“Nigerians and pensioners alike are daily crying for freedom from this enslavement and exploitation. Our patience is overtaxed,” he said.

Abumis also decried the failure of the Federal Government to honor its promised N25,000 palliatives to pensioners.

He called on the federal and state governments to consider using the new minimum wage of N70,000 as a template to recompute pension emoluments due the current economic situations.

“All categories of wage earners are in the same ship navigating stormy waters,” he said

The NUP president said that given the present economic quagmire, it would be discriminatory to approve 110 per cent for workers and give the pensioners less in the same economy.

He said that the pensioners were no longer in service and do not have any other means of settling their ever pilling bills, adding that they should be given a living minimum pension.

“The onus of fixing a broken economy lies with the leadership of every country, and it takes a courageous and committed leader to do this.

“We hereby call on the president to take the bull by the horn and do the needful against all odds, towards addressing the hunger problem ravaging the country,” he said.