Pensioners in Rivers State say they will demonstrate on the streets if the state government does not pay them before August this year.
The pensioners made this known shortly after their executive general meeting held on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, as they also backed the verification exercise embarked upon by the state government.
They further appealed to the state’s Sole Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, to provide a free medical scheme for the elderly in the state to help address their health challenges.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Coordinator of the Rivers State Civil Service Retirees, Comrade Isaac Urang, and the PRO, Comrade Sam Eke, strongly urged the government to prioritize all pensioners’ payments, including gratuities, monthly pensions, and death benefits.
In their separate speeches, the coordinator and the PRO said: “We want prompt salary payment of pensioners. Gratuities since May to date have not been released to pensioners. Some amount of money should be given to the Ministry of Finance to pay pensioners who have been owed. Some pensioners retired 12 years ago and uptill now have not been given a dime. We also have the issue of death benefit that has not been paid since March till now.
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“We support the verification exercise, and we urge the government to continue with the verification. We also urge the government to declare a free medical scheme for the elderly.
“By the end of this month, if nothing is done, we will demonstrate on the streets.
“We expect this whole process of verification to be given speed attention, and we want to appeal to our colleagues and other stakeholders involved in this process to work in synergy with the head of service so that pensioners in the state can be paid and have relief.
“From the sole administrator’s statement via press release, we saw some good intent. So, we are appealing to all stakeholders involved to make sure that pensioners’ payments come to fruition on or before the deadline that has been given.”
