NIPOST pensioner slumps as union protests in Lagos

A member of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners who retired from the Nigerian Postal Service, Silifatu Adetola, slumped on Monday as members of the union picketed the Lafiaji Post Office, Obalende, Lagos.

All Adetola could mutter as she was being revived by the aggrieved pensioners was that she had not eaten anything that day.

She went down as the protesters chanted at the front of the post office. But her colleagues quickly poured water on her.

She was quickly rushed to a hospital afterwards.

The pensioners were protesting their unpaid 69 months pension arrears. PUNCH Metro learnt that similar protests took place simultaneously in other post office branches in Apapa and the Lagos Island and some other states.

Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the union, Elijah Akindutire, said the incident was an attestation to the sufferings they were subjected to as a result of the unpaid pension

Akindutire said, “The government owes us 69 months of pension arrears. Most of us came here on empty stomach. That woman could have died because the government did not see us as important enough to pay what they owe us after serving meritoriously for years.

“We will not leave the place until we get an alert that our pension arrears have been paid. Some of us retired as far back as 2005. Some were paid while some were not. Even those who were paid got a fraction of what they were owed.

“I retired in 2006 and got just a little out of the pension the government owed me since then. The same thing is applicable to other members of the union.”

He explained that the union had previously given the government an ultimatum which expired on December 11, 2012.

The union said this time around, there would be no compromise until government paid what it owed them.

The union’s National Public Relations Officer, Mukaila Ogunboje, said the pensioners were tired of unfulfilled promises by the government.

He explained that the union had recorded 420 deaths among its members since they started agitating for the payment of the arrears.

 A civil rights activist, Mr. Darlington Ajitemita, joined the protesters, even though he was not a retiree of NIPOST.

He said the government was being deliberately wicked to the pensioners.

Meanwhile, a 78-year-old pensioner, Mrs. Enang Ekpenyong, and her other colleagues on Monday locked up the premises of NIPOST in Calabar, Cross River State.

They insisted that their pension which was last paid in October 2011 should be paid before the premises could become operational again.

Ekpenyong, who earns N26,000 monthly since she retired in the mid 90s, insisted that her pension should be paid or the NIPOST premises would remain closed indefinitely.

This came just as the Cross River State Chairman of the pensioners, Mrs. Ekanem Effiwatt, said no fewer than 15 retired NIPOST retirees in the state had died in the last one year.

 “I retired since 1996 and I was short-changed when my gratuity was paid. We have made a series of complaints to that effect but no one would listen. I have children but they too have their issues. I was last paid my monthly pension of N26, 000 in October 2011,” she said.

Vice-chairman of the union, Mr. Christopher Andem, said the pensioners had no intention of vacating the premises until their request was met.

“We have nowhere to go; we must remain here until the management and the Federal Government listen to us and answer us,” he said.