Retirees from Delta State’s local governments and primary schools have protested what they describe as arbitrary deductions and manipulations in their recently paid pensions and gratuities.
Gathering at the Okpe Council Secretariat in Orerokpe, the pensioners — under the Forum for Local Government Retirees and the Association of Retired Primary School Teachers (ARPST) — carried placards demanding justice and urging Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to intervene.
In a joint statement signed by Pastor Daniel Onosanimoni, Prince Gordon Etuwede, Bldr. Godwin Ekeleni, and Comrade John Egie, chairmen and scribes of the two organisations, the retirees alleged that payments were short by between ₦2 million and ₦10 million per person following a controversial pension review conducted by a consultant hired by the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
They accused the consultant of altering key parameters, including increasing the bond rate from 10% to 13.5%, which they said caused a 52% cut in pension values.
The retirees described the review as “retrospective, unfair, and unconstitutional.”
Onosanimoni appealed to the governor to correct the deductions, while Etuwede lamented that some retirees who should have received ₦12 million got as little as ₦650,000.
The groups are demanding an immediate refund, a review of the consultant’s work, and a return to the former pension template to restore equity and justice.
“This is to appeal to the Governor to pay us the balance of our pension. We appreciate him for the N40 billion loan and paying us till September 2024. But these payments have not gone without some deductions. It is the deductions we want him to pay for us.
“We had a template for payment prior to now, but government introduced another consultant who came and manipulated the parameters who came and changed the tables, the computation, resulting in these deductions.
“We are already retired. If he wants to do review we are not against that, but it should be futuristic. Because we are already retired, some six, seven years, we know our old figure. It is that old figure we want him to pay us.
“All reviews are always positive, but his is negative which brought this negative outcome. Anytime government is doing review, they do it upward, so we expect him to also review this thing upward.
“More so, as the money we are talking about was accumulated since 2011. If he changes the parameters, he should give us a corresponding interest rate of 13 or 15 per cent,” Onosanimoni told newsmen.
Decrying how the review affected retirees, causing low spirits, with some even collapsing, Etuwede said: “For 35 years of service, they paid N3.5 million instead of N12.5 million. It is an assault on us.”
