By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Unhappy with the recent outcry of pensioners in Rivers State over the alleged non-payment of their pensions by the state government, a cross-section of citizens of the state are pleading with the state governor, Nyesom Wike, to do everything possible to pay the pensioners even if it means halting the construction of one of the flyovers and using the money to clear the pensioners’ arrears.
Speaking with TPCN yesterday, these Rivers citizens expressed regret that the state is spending billions of naira on physical infrastructure without considering the pensions of retirees.
Mark Owhor, a timber dealer in Port Harcourt, said he was shocked when he heard on the radio on Monday that the Rivers State Government is not paying pensioners.
“I am totally surprised that they have not paid the pensioners for months, if not years. I heard this thing yesterday (Monday) on Rhythm when the chairman of the pensioners was crying and lamenting that his men are dying of hunger because the government is still owing them. I did not believe it. But what touched me most was when he said that they will do strike if the governor does not pay them after two weeks. I felt like crying because I remembered my uncle, my mother’s elder brother who worked in the ministry, how this man suffered because of his pension and gratuity. Though he’s late now but before he died, he was always going to the secretariat, shaking because of sickness and old age and they would carry him by hand, still they were doing him come today come tomorrow until he could not move again. It was just a few months before he died that they managed to pay his arrears. I don’t think they paid the gratuity till today. That was like 12 or 13 years ago. What they’re doing to these pensioners is not good,” he said.
Owhor, who said he hails from Emohua in Rivers State, pleaded with the state government to avoid a situation where the pensioners would take to the streets in protest before getting attention from the government.
He said: “Governor Wike should not allow the pensioners to go on protest as their chairman is threatening because that would look very embarrassing to the state. That is why he should do everything possible to pay them; these are elders and senior citizens who served the state with their strength and knowledge. They are not supposed to suffer like that. Let him suspend one flyover and use the money to clear these pensioners’ salaries and then continue the flyover when money comes. Their lives are more important. Do you know how it will look like if those old people carry placards and go to the streets? Some may even fall down and die on the road and the world will laugh at us. By that time it will make our city ugly and spoil the beauty of our flyovers that has caused us billions of naira.”
In his own comment, the senior pastor of Blessed Generation Ministries, Pastor Tony Dike, expressed sympathy for the pensioners in Rivers State who he said are suffering for serving the state when they should be enjoying, describing it as anathema.
“As a man of God, I can tell you that it is anathema for a labourer to be denied his wages. It is also a curse on the part of the authorities for people who have spent the greater part of their lives working for the state only to be owed their due rewards. God does not treat such injustice with kid gloves, because he hates injustice. The bible says that a labourer deserves his wages and that he who does not work, let him not eat, which means that he who works is supposed to eat. By further interpretation, it also implies that if somebody has worked for you and you refuse to pay him, you are violating God’s law and are therefore risking his wrath.
“So my candid advice is that the state government should pay pensioners in this state without further delay. If am not mistaken, there was a time the NLC in this state wanted to go on strike over this issue of non-payment of workers and pensioners and the state government quickly arranged a meeting with them. At least we heard all that through the radio and television. I understand the government promised to pay them, why are they not fulfilling that promise? This is not good for this state at all, especially with all the billions they are using to build flyovers. Do they not know that stomach infrastructure is more important than social infrastructure? They should use part of that money to pay these old men please. If we want to live long, we should learn to take care of our old people,” Pastor Tony Dike advised.
In her own view, a teacher working in one of the government-owned schools condemned what she described as the ill-treatment of pensioners by successive governments in Rivers State.
She said: “It’s like a recurrent decimal. Each time we will be hearing of this type of problem of owing of workers and pensioners. I think, apart from the time of Odili, this problem has become very rampant. Amaechi tried at the initial time but from his second tenure, he changed and started owing workers. Omehia would have tried for workers but he didn’t stay long. But I can say that the situation is getting worse under this present government. It’s as if they don’t regard workers and pensioners, especially pensioners. I don’t know if they want them to die of hunger. Please they should pay them their money because they worked for it. Governor Wike is trying in other areas but he should please consider these workers and pay them. Let him try more in this aspect.”
Recall that the leadership of the pensioners in Rivers State has threatened that their members would embark on social unrest if the state government does not pay them at the end of two weeks from now. TPCN learnt that prompt action was yet to be taken to resolve the issue.
