By Samuel Oyadongha & Emem Idio, Yenagoa

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and his predecessor in office, Timipre Sylva, have traded words over who is responsible for the plight of the state pensioners.

Gov Dickson

While Dickson has repeatedly blamed pensioners’ woes on the failure of the past administration to pay their gratuities, former governor, Sylva has continued to dismiss the claim that his administration did not pay pensions for five years, describing the claim as scandalous and petty.

Setting up the State Pensions and Gratuities Committee, SPGC, to expedite action on the payment of benefits to the state’s pensioners, Governor Dickson lamented that though the backlog of unpaid benefits were inherited by the present administration, it would not relent in its efforts at ensuring that every genuine pensioner gets paid his or her benefits to the fullest.

Outstanding gratuities

He appealed to the pensioners to co-operate and appreciate the current efforts of government.

The governor reaffirmed the resolve of his administration to settle all outstanding gratuities and pensions in batches until the backlog owed was cleared and thanked the pensioners for their maturity, discipline and understanding, especially with the committee.

He advised them to exercise patience and not allow themselves to be used by mischief makers to fan the embers of discord.

The state government, it would be recalled had threatened to set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate non-payment of gratuities to pensioners in the state from 2007 to 2012 in spite of budgetary provisions to that effect.

But the former governor, Timipre Sylva had dismissed claims by incumbent, Seriake Dickson that his (Sylva) administration did not pay pensions to retirees for five years, describing the claim as scandalous and petty.

Sylva had in a statement issued by his media adviser, Doifie Buokoribo Ola entitled “Resign Now, Dickson, Resign” said when he took over as Governor of Bayelsa State from Dr Goodluck Jonathan, there were outstanding pension and gratuity arrears, and no noise was made about it.

Sylva noted that as a leader, he took responsibility on the conviction that government is a continuum.

Compulsory savings: Meanwhile, chairman of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, in the state, Chief Emmanuel Namatebe, while speaking about current government efforts at finding solutions to the pensioners woes, saying “the governor also announced that he is making a compulsory savings of N250million every month to pay pension gratuities and arrears but after the first two to three months, the savings were nowhere to be found; he refused to release money. From the piecemeal payments, the governor has released N3.1billion in five instalments.

However, pensioners from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, are yet to be paid their gratuities, even up to this day, and since his last disbursement of N300million in March this year, this is October he has not released any money again.

If the governor has been releasing money regularly even if it is the N250 million he purported to have been saving, we would not be having problems.

“The plight of pensioners in Bayelsa State is hopeless for now because the governor has said that because of the projects he is embarking upon there isn’t enough money and that the monthly allocation is dwindling, hence he can no longer pay pensioners.

During the last Monthly Transparency briefing, the governor pronounced that he will release additional N300 million, but four months after, nothing has been done.

Pensioners threaten protest

“So the pensioners have taken the decision that they will embark on a peaceful demonstration and thereafter take the state government to an industrial court.

That is the two options that we have now taken. I had summoned the Bayelsa State government to the National Assembly and indicted them before the Committee on Pensions and Establishments.

I also used the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria to write the state government and I have also applied dialogue to ensure that these monies are paid.

Unfortunately, some pensioners are accusing me of taking bribe from the state governor and attempted to pass a vote of no-confidence on me but our national secretariat investigated and concluded that the allegations were false and unfounded. Right now the pensioners are in a very unpredictable condition.

“They don’t know where to go and where to start from. We have lost about fifty pensioners with unpaid gratuity from January to October this year.

Now the Federal Government has approved 33 per cent salary increment for pensioners, the circular letter has arrived and we are preparing to forward it to the Head of Service to implement payment.

There is gross negligence from the Bayelsa State government in respect of pensioners. Pensioners have not even been granted audience since the governor came to power. We have written five letters for audience with the Governor and all have been thrown into the waste basket. This is the plight of pensioners.

“We are appealing to President Jonathan to intervene in the lives of Bayelsa State pensioners because this is the home state of Mr. President and people have the assumption that there is so much money but the governor is giving priority attention to projects than pensioners. We are appealing to the state governor to release the purported compulsory savings of N250million regularly to pay pensioners. There should be a standing order to the Accountant-General to release the monies to the six-man committee. Even if other social welfare packages are not given to us, they should pay us our entitlements, but for the monthly allowance, that one the government is paying but the gratuity and other entitlements are being denied us.”

“We’ve written 35 letters”

Bemoaning the plight of local government pensioners in the state, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Local Government branch Prince Renner Hobobo said the Union has written over thirty-five letters seeking audience with the state government without success.

One of the letters by the union, with reference number NUP/BLGB/10 VOL.II/14 dated 1st July, 2014 addressed to the Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government and obtained by Vanguard reads:

“The backlog of the indebtedness due our retirees has increased from N285, 668,469.92 by 1st May, 2013 to an astronomic height of about N830, 010,201.72 by 31st July, 2014. Some of the reasons for the high arrears is due to the failure of the Bayelsa State Government to contribute financial allocation to the Local Government Pensions Board and the obligatory failure of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development to source the share of the Federal Government contribution to the Pensions Board.

”The case of the state government is that in spite of the Bayelsa State Budgetary provision for 2012, 2013 and 2014 which amounted to N411, 464,962.43, not a dime has been released to the Local Government Pensions Board, since the commencement of this administration.

Commencement of administration

Similarly the federal share which ought to have been twice that of the state at two and a half, and five per cent respectively, would have been N822, 929,924.86.

“From the above calculations, N1, 234,394,887.28 is the supposed provisions from the state and Federal Government for these three years, and therefore it is inexplicable why the Local Government Pensions Board is short-funded and consequently our pensioners and their families are being starved to death.

“Furthermore, the Board is grossly shortchanged by the local government councils which are the substantial contributors to the fund. Of the N50million being allocated to the board by the councils, about N28million is expended on the monthly pension while the balance, a paltry N22 million is left to service the over N850 million indebtedness as at July 31, 2014.

“In spite of the above incurred debts a worse burden of debt is imminent when the 53.4% pension increase will be approved. While we commend the state government for the infrastructural development of the state within these two years, however, we earnestly appeal that the state government should come to our aid, or otherwise the existence of our new retirees and their families are being threatened most by financial starvation than by the Ebola Virus and insurgency”.