Pensioners in their number, on Monday marched through Wellington Bassey Road to the Government House in Akwa Ibom State, protesting the non-payment of their arrears by the State government.
The elderly men and women said they were going through untold hardships as a result of the non-release of their gratuities since they left the civil service.
The pensioners who came out in large number called on governor Udom Emmanuel to come to their rescue, adding that their children could no longer eat nor attend schools.
The state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Effanga Ettah, appealed to the governor to approve the release of payment of pensioners’ gratuity since 2012, adding that many of the pensioners had died without getting their gratuities.
He cried out that since March this year, pensioners in the local governments had also not received their monthly pensions.
His words, “Local government pensioners stay months before their monthly pension is paid. This is due to the poor funding of the Local Government Pension Board. The arrears amounting to millions of naira is still pending.
“The union believes that in your good gesture, you will approve payment for the arrears and money for dead pensioner’s next of kin.”
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