The Niger State Deputy Governor Yakubu Garba over the weekend gave the state pensioners the shock of their lives when he pointedly warned them never to seek free money and favours from politicians.
As a result, Garba rejected the shopping list brought forward by the NUP leadership for his approval.
The Deputy Governor who was a former chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress had been invited to commission the new edifice of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners and perhaps use his influence to mobilise state funds for the union’s projects which included among others – a bus, and a parcel of land to build a clinic for the elders that make up the members.
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Surprisingly, rather than give the usual assurance and consent typical of top government officials, at such occasions, Garba instead scolded the NUP leadership, warning them that doing so would be at their own peril.
He went on to explain that collecting money would mean mortgaging themselves and the union to such “benevolent” politician.
At the event which was attended by Arewa PUNCH, Garba retorted, “When the president of the Union mentioned that no kobo was borrowed to build this structure, I maintained 100 per cent mark, no assistance received, solely union’s effort. I maintained the 100 per cent. But when he veered into issues of bus, issue of land, I began to reduce their mark. God knows the best, and I believe those who were my officers when I was Labour Union leader are still alive. They should come out and tell that if Yakubu ever collected 10 kobo from government. If I am lying, they should come out and tell me if I have ever requested 10 kobo from the government. I have never done that.
“If you are a union leader, with the kind of politics we are playing today, you should be very careful when collecting money from government. If you are collecting money from the government, you have disowned yourself, and I avoid it. I’m challenging anybody, if I have ever written in such a manner, come and expose me. We should be careful in collecting money from politicians. I am one of them today but we should be very careful.
“If you have built this house, you can not tell me you can not buy a bus. I challenge you to go and buy a bus. If you can build this house, you can not tell me you can not get 100 by 100 land to build a clinic. Do not politicise the issue of helping people.
“If you are building a clinic here in Minna for pensioners, what about pensioners in Bida, Kontagora, Wushishi, where will they go? If you want to do something, sit down and analyse, what you will do? How will you do it? What benefits will it bring after you have done it? How will you sustain it? If you are doing it because you want people to clap for you. They’ll clap for you,” the deputy governor further advised.
While taking a swipe at the general poor conditions in Niger State, he lamented that it was lacking in basic amenities.
Again, Garba pointed out, “Looking at the issue of pension in Niger State, I was just taking stock of your complaints but I leave your compliants, I go by extension to Niger State complaints generally. I want to ask for God’s sake, you have pensions arrears, gratuity arrears, is that not true? Do you have insecurity arrears or not? You say you don’t have insecurity arrears? God forgive you. it means you are heartless. Your people are being killed. So, if your own is ok, nobody’s own is ok, rethink.
“I want to ask you, do you have road deficit in Niger State or not? We have states that were created after Niger and they have done more than Niger State. Who are we? Check yourselves. If you are a teacher you know the kind of schools you have in your village. When we come to Minna, here we make things cosmetic, but when we go to our villages, we see what, rubbish!
“Check yourself as a Nigerlite. The state belongs to all of us. It’s not for one person.
“If you think you can do it today, tomorrow is for somebody else. So, let us imbibe in our hearts the true patriotism, not fake one. But if we continue to deceive ourselves, whether we like it or not, at 80 years, your utility would have waned. What have you offered before then? It is very important because all of us will die someday. So, I’m very sorry, we articulated problems of pension, but I will start from the administrative side just to give an insight. Because so many pensioners when I led NLC, I saw deceit.
“One of our major problems is the institution. When you contest against somebody and you do not get it, you use other means to bring the person down.
“We have the problem of corruption. Even at the federal level, the pension system is not safe. The pension system is a conduit pipe for stealing government money. At the state level, we are not safe. At the local government level, we are not safe. What do we do? We must use technology to help in checking this corruption. Right now, support the present pension board and the consultant, and do your biometric capturing. After biometric capturing, we will do automation, and we will do technological correction before we pay you. That time you’ll see how we will save your money. DG knows very well that even the pensioners are not safe, and you are part of the corruption because I have seen on our website some of you here are collecting three pensions. We should be very careful, for you are not safe. If we want God to help us, we should help ourselves. God willing, by 2024, if you give us the support, we will see how things will turn out.
“There is a government policy of contributory Health Scheme that we have World Bank and other institutions donating money into that will take care of the informal sector. The day before yesterday, I sat down with the permanent secretary Ministry of Health, and I told him to go and talk to our pensioners. They should key into the contributory health scheme of the informal sector so that they can tap from this money. This money will help pensioners in every local government, not necessarily for only pensioners here in Minna. So, go and enrol your people so that they can join this. If you finish it, then you can think of building the clinic. That is my take home for you,” the deputy governor concluded.
The NUP state chairman Ishaku Ndagi had earlier in his opening remarks boasted before the Garba of how the edifice was solely funded by pensioners’ money without assistance from any source.
However, he soon began to reel out the statutory demands of the pensioners with regards to their gratuity before unveiling a shopping list of other projects that the union would want the state government to come to its rescue.
“Today’s occasion is historic because this brand new office complex you are about to commission is a dream come true not only to the executive council of this great union but to the entire pensioners of Niger State. This is also the beginning of a new dawn for our esteemed senior citizens who will from now on like to have, like their counterparts in other states, a befitting office of their own to be proud of. From today onwards, the union will no longer be on a rented apartment.
“Our esteemed elder statesmen will have permanent office accommodation which will be dedicated to fight for their cause. From this moment, this office complex will be known as ‘Pensioners House.’ It is a complete success story of the collective dream of our founding fathers, particularly my immediate predecessor in office Alhaji Sekibo Alhaji.
“I want to inform you with pride that from the PVC level of this project to its finish, the union did not receive any assistance from any organisation or state government despite our plea. The union did not borrow nor take loans from any bank or organisation. This is completely and purely pensioners’ money.
“However, no assistant is too late to receive from any quarters since we have many projects lined up.
“At this juncture, I will like to, on behalf of the entire pensioners in the state, highlight some of the long standing demands of pensioners which have remained pending to date. The union wishes to remind the government of unpaid gratuity and call on the government to passionately and urgently commence the payment to both the state and local government retirees, either dead or alive. That the contributory pension scheme has stood still for years and should be resumed as the situation has left many retirees tired, sick, and abandoned such that many of them have since died.
“That the consequential adjustment which was approved by the Federal Government since 2019 be implemented immediately to reduce the gap between the serving officers and the retirees.
“Moreover, the union believes that if we want a radical reduction in the incidence of corruption there is the need to improve the conditions of retirees so as to serve as a moral booster to serving officers to shun corrupt practices while in the office.
“The union commends the effort of the government to pay the October 2020 pension just recently. We plead with the government to pay the rest 50 per cent harmonisation of pension schemes.
“The union will appreciate very much if this issue is addressed so that the pensioners will be comfortable with their pay packets. In order to ease our transportation problem, the union is appealing to the state government to assist with a bus. The union also wants to build a clinic that will be solely dedicated to the health needs of pensioners in this state, and we will want the government to assist with a piece of land for this purpose. The union will be delighted if the issues highlighted here are adequately and promptly addressed,” the chairman requested.
(Punch)
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