Some pensioners receive N3,000 in Zamfara – NUP chairman

The chairman of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Zamfara State, Alhaji Hassan Mohammed has lamented that many pensioners in the State are still receiving N3,000 per month as pension.

He wondered how a pensioner with a wife and children would cope with N3,000 per month, noting that the State pensioners have been subjected to starvation.

Mohammed said that since the creation of the State in 1996, no government had reviewed the pension scheme, stressing that many of the pensioners had died because of frustration.

In an exclusive interview with newsmen in Gusau on Tuesday, Mohammed explained that the immediate past administration claimed that it implemented the N30,000 minimum wage but there was nothing to show for it.

“I retired from active service in 2012 and as I am talking to you now, I have not received a single kobo as a gratuity.

“We are working hand in hand with the State wing of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to ensure that the State government settles the gratuity of some pensioners,” he said.

On the Contributory Pension Scheme, he pointed out that the Zamfara State office of the scheme had not been remitting contributions to the appropriate quarters, instead, the funds were allegedly being diverted to private purses.

“Even pensioners that have been verified and cleared by the office of the State Head of Service, HOS, including those that are dead have not been paid their contributions by the contributory pension scheme.

“There were corrupt practices in the scheme, which made the government of former Governor Abdul Aziz Yari to revoke the contract between the State government and the Contributory Pension Scheme,” he further disclosed.

He assured that every beneficiary would be paid their entitlement as the union was mounting pressure for the payments, adding that the union had already stopped the scheme from deducting money from people who have retired.