There was confusion among workers at the Governor’s office in Abeokuta on Wednesday when pensioners in Ogun State shut down the state secretariat to protest the alleged non-payment of N68bn 10-year outstanding gratuities.
The pensioners, under the auspices of Local Government Pensioners’ Association of Nigeria, blocked the two main gates of the secretariat in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, locking out prominent persons in the state, including the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, and other civil servants for hours.
The protesters, armed with placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Gratuities are on sales to pensioners’, ‘Governor Dapo Abiodun, honour your father and treat pensioners well’ and ‘Governor Abiodun, we don’t deserve this worst humiliation’ among others.
Members of LOGPAN had in June staged a similar protest to express their grievances.
Addressing newsmen during the protest, the state Chairman of LOGPAN, Sikiru Ayilara, accused Abiodun of failing to keep his promises to the pensioners, complaining that some of them still earned paltry sum of N3,000 as monthly pension.
Ayilara described the quarterly payment of N500m by the governor, which according to him, would take 34 years to clear the gratuities, as “a wicked act” which is unacceptable.
Reacting, Talabi (SSG) said the government was currently experiencing hard times, even as he promised that the government would look into the demands of the pensioners.
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