THE Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, has faulted alleged exclusion of pensioners from the N18,000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government, saying the development is most unfair.

“The Federal Government should not have left us out; pensioners need a a minimum pensionthat could guarantee them some minimum living condition,’’ NUP Chairman in the North-Central Zone,

Mr Peter Ahmodu, said in Jos.

Amodu decried the plight of pensioners in the country, stressing that they were the most “grossly underpaid. The last time pension was increased was in year 2000 by then President Olusegun Obasanjo, who raised the minimum payable amount from  N1,750 to N4,500. The current N18,000 minimum wage for workers is 250 per cent increment from the former N7,500; we want the President to consider our plight in line with the present realities.”

The chairman said that Section 173 (f) of the 1999 Constitution stated that pension should be increased every five years.  The section, he said, stated that in the case of salary increment, the action should be implemented across board (including pensions).

According to him, pension increment should be a function of Federal Government pronouncement and should be binding on the states just like the minimum wage.

Pension equivalent

“It will serve the pensioners better if the President can make a pronouncement on pension equivalent of minimum wage just as his predecessor (Obasanjo) did while in office. Pensioners take their N4,500 minimum pension to the same market with workers who earn N18,000 minimum wage. In fact, pensioners even have larger families and dependents to cater for,” he said.

He said it was a standard practice the world over for pensions to be increased periodically, but the reverse was the case in Nigeria.

Ahmodu said that many pensioners could no longer cater for their families with their meager pension and blamed the neglect of the senior citizens for some of the social problems confronting the nation, arguing that “if pensioners are well catered for, they will be able to cater well for their families and cases of armed robbery, hoodlums and general insecurity in the land will be reduced.”

Ahmodu, therefore, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, issue a circular for pension increment like the minimum wage so as to shore up the fortunes of the retirees