Against the backdrop of the current agitations by Nigerians on the need for government to urgently provide palliatives to mitigate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal, an association of retirees has called on government to also look in their direction in the formulation of the palliatives policies.
Writing under the aegies of the Contributory Pension Retirees Forum (CPRF), the body appealed to the President to look into their plight as “no mention has been made so far of the living conditions of our members, who have become senior citizens and prone to the vagaries of the harsh economic conditions everyone is battling with.”
The group recalled that the retirees were compulsorily asked in 2004 to join “a programmed withdrawal under the Contributory Pension Scheme operated by PFAs under the control of PENCOM”, with the attendant “exploitation and rip-off under the guise of managing their benefits and entitlements.”
The group said: “The obnoxious CPS denies us having greater share of lump sum after retirement and dispenses a paltry monthly pension to retirees across the board.
“This is disappointing in a nation that prides itself as giant of Africa and says in its National Anthem that the labour of our Heroes past shall not be in vain.”
The statement signed by their spokesperson, Akin Olowookere, asked whether a 35-year working experience in Service ” is not enough for a retiree to manage his entitlements, or will a 60year-old matured retiree unable to handle investment that they are handling and in return giving just a little fraction to pacify the starving and financially incapacitated retirees under this unholy CPS.”
In the statement, they called on the government to “display a milk of human kindness by integrating them into the envisaged palliatives scheme, as the prices of goods and services have shot over the roofs making them vulnerable.”
“The removal of fuel subsidy recently by the Federal Government has not only increased the hardships suffered by retirees, it has also rendered the paltry monthly pension useless,” the statement concluded.
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