By Emma Ovuakporie
ABUJA—Pensioners that retired from the Federal Civil Service, yesterday, invaded the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, HOCSF, in Abuja, over non-payment of pensions.

They described the biometric capture introduced by the Head of Service office as faulty and not efficient, as they were yet to get paid after being captured.

The pensioners, who attacked the security men guarding the entrance of the office of the Head of Service, Prof Oladipo Afolabi, while trying to gain access into the office, were restrained.

Though determined to get their desires met, one of the pensioners told Vanguard that they will not leave the office till their needs were met.

Lament ordeal due to non-payment of pension

Speaking to Vanguard at the scene of the incident, some of the pensioners lamented the ordeal they had passed through due to non-payment of their pension.

One of them, who gave his name as Lawal Usman, said he retired December 27, 2005, from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and had been in Abuja since last January in pursuit of his pension.

“Since July 2006, after receiving my gratuity, l have not collected any money in place of my pension, except for the months of October and November this year that l collected N21, 777:00 each, as against the supposed N31,546:00 which is my actual entitlement,” he said.

He recalled that a little after he collected the first sum of money, N128,845 was paid into his account, adding that that sum of money was claimed to be harmonization, which means the other arrears had been forfeited.

“I could not understand why this is so, after doing the Biometric Data Capture as the Office of the Head of Service instructed us.

“Even now, no specific reasons were given for the non-payment of my pension since 2006. My children have dropped out of school and l have been evicted from my house. Right now, l live in my car with my entire family as a house because l cannot afford house rent,” he added

Also Mr. Waidi Asifatu Oyeyemi, who retired from the National Assembly since January 15, 2003, lamented that “though l have done the biometric data registration and have met all the required criterion as demanded by the Head Civil Service of the Federation with documented evidence since July 7, 2010, l am yet to get paid.

“Since August, l have been in Abuja in pursuit of the pension but haven’t got anything, despite all the forms filled,” he added.

HOS appeals to pensioners

When contacted, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations to the Head of Service, Mr. Tope Ajakaiye, said the problems and omission in payment were a technological default experienced during the computation, which the present Head of Service was committed to rectifying.

He pleaded with the pensioners to be patient and assured them that the issues will be settled sooner than they expected, and that the HOS was very concerned about their predicament.