Pensioners seek improved welfare from govt

Pensioners under the aegis of Nigerian Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme (NUPCPS) have called on the federal government to improve on the welfare of pensioners and workers.

According to NUPCPS, the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, arrangement by the government is still far from being favourable to retirees.

The Secretary of the Union, Comrade Bisan Olufemi John, who made the assertion at the 8th Annual National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors, NAIPE, stated that there was no way the government can successfully tackle the economy without adequately satisfying the yearnings of both pensioners and those currently in service.

He said: “The Federal Government has been struggling with getting the economy to work, but one thing that is clear is that the people are the ones that will contribute mainly to meet such a reality.

“The government must first think of the workers, improve their welfare so they can then contribute their quota adequately to the economy. It should be the people before the economy.

“Government should think of how to build the operators of the economy and also improve the life of pensioners.”

According to him, the government has failed to pay group life insurance claims to next of kin of deceased civil servants for over three years as stipulated by the Pension Reform Act 2014, even as annuity funds for some pensioners have been trapped in some failed insurance companies.

He further called on the government to provide better opportunities for pensioners to be happy, saying that retirees’ welfare should not just end at the level of being paid their stipends.

On her part, the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Lagos Chapter, Comrade Funmi Sessi, lamented that Nigerian pensioners were still far from having the deserved rest, adding that there was need for them to earn their benefits, rest and enjoy the fruit of their labour.