Oyo blames inability to pay pensioners on theft of N6.5b by govt officials

OYO State government has decried the protest by a splinter group of pensioners in the state saying it was uncalled for in view of the recent meeting held with pensioners.

   The government attributed the inability of the state government to meet the demand of the pensioners to paucity of fund and the theft of N6. 5 billion of pensioners’ money by some officials during the administration of one of his predecessors

    In a statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Dr Festus Adedayo, the state government said it had entered into an agreement with the parent bodies of the pensioners namely: Nigeria Union of Pensioners and the National Association of Retired Local Government Primary School Teachers, on the modalities for the settlement of pension arrears and gratuity in installments, consequent upon the theft.

   The statement said government had indeed started to pay the arrears to the retired primary school teachers.

   The statement said that the Govenor Abiola Ajimobi administration puts the welfare of retirees on the front burner in the scheme of government fiscal policy, which informed the unprecedented implementation of the 142 per cent pension rise by the administration in 2011.

     “Before this administration came on board, past governments had pointedly told the pensioners that no government would implement the arrears.