AfriPulse
Pensioners protest unpaid pension at the ministry of finance on Tuesday
NITEL–MTEL pensioners on Tuesday took to the streets in Abuja, decrying what they described as years of abandonment, injustice, and deliberate neglect by government agencies responsible for pension administration.
The retirees, many visibly elderly and frail, accused the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), the Ministry of Finance, and other key institutions of failing to address their mounting unpaid entitlements.
Speaking on behalf of the pensioners, the spokesman, Mr Okey Ifepe, said the retirees were protesting not out of rebellion but out of necessity, having endured unbearable hardship due to unpaid benefits.
He said the group is owed 35 months of pension arrears, a backlog that has plunged many into hunger, sickness, and homelessness.
“We stand here today not as beggars, but as senior citizens who gave our youth and our strength to this country,” Ifepe declared. “Every other defunct agency under the Defined Benefits Scheme has been settled. Only NITEL–MTEL pensioners remain unpaid. So we ask, what is our crime? Is it because we served Nigeria faithfully?”
The protesters also condemned what they called discriminatory exclusion from the ₦32,000 pension increment approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for all DBS pensioners.
While other retirees reportedly received the increase, NITEL–MTEL pensioners were omitted despite being under the same platform and having undergone the same verification process.
“How can the poorest pensioners be the only ones denied relief?” Ifepe asked. “Many of our members survive on ₦14,500 or ₦16,000 a month. How can widows eating once a day be told they ‘do not qualify’?”
Beyond the arrears and the increment, the pensioners listed several other outstanding entitlements, including the balance of a 12.95 per cent pension increase approved since 2020, a 10.66 per cent adjustment from 2015, the long-promised ₦25,000 palliative, death benefits owed to next-of-kin, and unpaid payroll for verified pensioners dating back to 2018.
The group appealed directly to the President, the Minister of Finance, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), PTAD, and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to urgently intervene.
“These are fathers, mothers, and grandparents who kept Nigeria functioning long before the digital age,” Ifepe said. “Some died on duty. Others died waiting. Do not let the only thing left to pay be burial benefits.”
The pensioners vowed to continue peaceful demonstrations until their demands are met, insisting that justice must be restored to those who spent their lives serving the nation.
Source: TheWhistler | Read the Full Story…
