SAN FRANCISCO, November 27, (THEWILL) – Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State Thursday told protesting pensioners under the auspices of Contributory Retirees Association to stop blackmailing him over the alleged contributory pension scheme being operated in the state.
Uduaghan spoke at a meeting with leadership of Delta State chapter of Pensioners Union of Nigeria a few days after a mass rally in Asaba which embarrassed the state government.
Though the group of pensioners who staged the protest were absent from the meeting, the state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Ogbueshi Robert Chukwuyem, apologised on behalf of the Contributory Retirees Association, saying there was no basis for the protest as there has been prompt payment of pensions and implementation of the circulars from the Federal Government on increase in pension in the state.
Chukwuyem attributed the protest by CRAs members to misinformation of the working of the state pension scheme, saying however that the state chapter of NUP would soon integrate members of the association so that they would not been running at cross-purposes.
Addressing the meeting, the governor who said he understand the impulse of the pensioners, disclosed that his parents were pensioners before their demise, and, as such, issues of pensioners were very dear to his heart and he cannot be blackmailed to disregard the interest of the retirees.
“It is very unfair to insinuate that I have over N16 billion contributory pension money with me… we have to decide whether to continue with the contributory pension scheme or go back to the old pension scheme because of the challenges which we are all aware of.
“It is regrettable that somebody is using them to misinform the public, they are politicising pension issues and it is unfortunate,” he said.
While reiterating the fact that nobody or association could blackmail his administration to abandon the interests of pensioners in the state, Uduaghan disclosed that so far his administration has contributed over N18billion since 2007 when it started implementing the contributory pension scheme.
“The state government has contributed over N18 billion to the contributory pension scheme with workers contributing N13.7 billion, the money is with the PFAs (Pension Fund Administrators),” he said.
He described as mischievous and very unfair accusation by a section of pensioners that he was insensitive to their plight, adding that besides workers salaries, his administration pays out the sum of N1.2 billion monthly as pensions, an amount he noted was more than the wage bill of some state.
“Every month N1.2 billion is given for pension alone, I am not talking of workers salary. I am talking of what we put in for pension. That is the monthly wage bill of many states in this country,” he said.
In what appeared as an exemption of his administration from the blames concerning the delay-pension scheme, Uduaghan urged operators Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) operators saddled with responsibility to manage pension schemes, to ensure that they meet with expectations of workers and pensioners with regard to the contributions made by workers while in service.
Uduaghan however noted that it has been agreed that resolutions on wages by the Federal Government were not binding on the states if the states were not part of the negotiations.
“If the Federal Government wants states to implement the resolutions on wages, it should involve the states in the negotiations otherwise, their circulars would not be binding on the state but, rather, it will provide windows for the states to negotiate with their own workers,” Uduaghan said.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Contributory Retirees Association, Ajueyitsi Eric Ovwiroro, has reacted to the allegations by the governor that they were being sponsored by some persons within the state, saying as elderly people, they wouldn’t succumb to blackmail to pursue their case.
Ovwiroro who spoke in a telephone conversation with THEWILL said they were denied invitation to the purported meeting the governor had with pensioners ostensibly because they don’t want to be told the truth.
“We are mature people, we are elders who have served the state and we know what we are protesting about. We know the working of the state government so the claims that Joint Negotiation Council (JNC), an arm of NLC, is sponsoring us is untrue. Let the governor pay us our money and see if there would be any protest of this manner again. What we are after is our money and nothing more,” he said.
He however blamed the stalemate over the pension scheme impasse on the Special Adviser to the state governor on Labour Matters, Hon Mike Okeme, saying he was the one misrepresenting the people.
“Okeme is the one sidelining us, he is the one playing the divide and rule game and he is also the one fielding the governor with all manners of claims,” Ovwiroro said.
