The suffering and constant begging for alms of Mr. Aniobi John, a retired public school teacher in Iwara, Atakunmosa West Local Council of Osun State may soon come to an end, as he has received a bond certificate of N8.3m from the state government.

John, who is physically impaired, had taken to begging on the streets for survival. The blind retiree, being led by a teenage girl, had bemoaned the non-payment of his pension by the state government.

As empathic passersby and traders were giving him money, in a viral video, the man narrated his ordeal of how he had been denied his entitlements by the state government.

He had said: “I wouldn’t have come out to beg for alms, if I was seeing with my eyes. I came out because of my blindness and hunger, please, have mercy upon me and help me. 

“I worked for 35 years as a teacher in Iwara and it is in this same Iwara that I was struck with blindness. I worked for eight years in Iwara and after retirement, I was denied my entitlements. 

“I contributed over two million naira while in active service but till date, I have not received a dime. Please, help me, God will help you too. I wouldn’t have come out to beg, if I could see,” he narrated in emotion-laden voice.

But the plight of John may be of the thing of the past, after he received a bond certificate of N8.3mn, alongside other benefiting retirees in the state.

He described the gesture as the best thing that has ever happened to him, saying Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has rekindled his dashed hope. 

He was among 162 retirees that benefitted from the N1.156b bond certificates presented to a fresh set of pensioners by the state government.

According to a statement, yesterday, by Ismail Omipidan, the Chief Press Secretary to Oyetola, the benefitting retirees were primary school teachers, local government staff and those in the core civil service, parastatals and state-owned tertiary institutions.