Railway Pensioners Petition Obasanjo Over Arrears
BY PATIENCE SADUWA
As pension arrears of the Nigerian Railway retirees mounts daily, the pensioners have cried out to President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo to save them from untimely death.
Making the plea in Lagos last week, National Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (Railway branch), Mr Cornelius Onyeji condemned the government's decision to reduce the funds set aside for the Railway Pension Scheme from N1 billion to N500m, stating that it was affecting the pensioners adversely.
"We are being owed 23 months pension arrears. In this fiscal year's budget, allocation has been made for only three months of the year. This is affecting our members badly. Many are dying daily while others are out there in the streets begging."
According to him, the reduction, "will only add more punishment to the men and women who served their fatherland faithfully."
To clear the pension arrears, Onyeji called on the government to immediately release the sum of N3.680 billion, the total sum owed for the 23 months.
"I want to use this opportunity to plead with President Obasanjo to free us from untimely death and hardship. We cannot work anymore due to old age. Many of us have turned to beggars on the streets of Lagos and other cities, we are having problems coping with the high cost of living. The president and the minister should please help us."
When contacted on the issue at the NCR's headquarters at Ebute-Metta, the Managing Director was said to have travelled to Abuja.
However, the Pensions Fund Manager, A.A Akahohol while declining to speak on the matter said: "We do not have the money to pay pensions now. Once we are given the money, we will pay."
The issue of late payment of pensions has been a recurring one for years now, one that a retired employee of the 106 year-old corporation Mr. Victor Ifedi blamed on the dismantling and misappropriation of the Railways Pensions Fund in 1983.
As Ifedi who retired as the Director of Personnel in 1989 explained: "The NCR's Pensions Fund was set up in 1955 by the colonial administration to handle the payments of pensions to retired staff of the corporation. It was managed by a British firm in England. Then in 1983, the government of President Shagari closed down the fund and the money was used for other things. Since then, there have been problems in paying pensions unlike in the past. In those days, especially during the colonial era, pensioners were the first to be paid as early as the 15th of each month. Workers then used to envy the pensioners because of this preferential treatment but the colonial masters did it because they felt the pensioners were old and could no longer work unlike the serving staff who were still strong."
About N1.9 billion is needed yearly to pay the railway pensioners who number 15,993.
