By Victor Ahiuma-Young
NIGERIA Union of Pensioners, has raised alarm over perceived serious irregularities  in the Federal Civil Pension Administration which NUP said have affected the  pensioners negatively that they are now faced with untold hardship and suffering.

Leaders of NUP, also alleged that payment of check-due from Head of Civil Service of the  Federation to the union has been unilaterally stopped since May 2010 and there is no letter to it (NUP) stating the reason for the stoppage.

In a petition to the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, seeking the intervention of Congress, NUP lamented the union had earlier petitioned President Jonathan, Secretary to the Federal Government, Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, to no avail.

In the petition by President and General Secretary of the union, Alhaji Ali Abatcha and Elder Actor Zal, the NUP said members are opposed to alleged moves by the immediate past Head of Service of the Federation,  Mr. Steve Oronsaye, blaming him for the plight of the pensioners.

Chief Benjamen Anwasia, Deputy President, Alhaji Ali Abatcha, President and Elder Actor Zal, General Secretary of NUP at a briefing in Lagos

Detailing the plight of members, the union: “After the first round of the Biometric verification conducted by the Office of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation came up with a total lump sum of N9.3 billion which he has claimed to have paid to pensioners across the country.

In view of the foregoing, the office of the Head of Civil Service of Federation sent a (TEXT MESSAGE/ALERT) to individual pensioners that some amount of money has been paid into their accounts.

But very unfortunately, the pensioners trooped into their bank to check their respective account only to discover that most of the text messages could not be traced into their accounts as claimed by the Office of the Head of Civil of the Federation. We wish to demand for the breakdown of this colossal payment into harmonization, 15 percent,  and 12 ½ percent  and regular monthly pensions.

Payment of check-off system from Head of Civil Service of the  Federation to this office has been stopped since May 2010 and there is no letter to us stating the reason for the stoppage.  To the best of our knowledge, it is unequivocally stipulated in the Trade Union Act that once a Trade Union is registered, union dues should be deducted and paid to the registered office of each registered union.

It is our firm conviction that this aspect of Trade Union law covers Nigeria Union of Pensioners as one of the 35 registered Trade Unions. The pension administration in the Federal Civil Service to which our members belong is now in total shambles.”

“The on-going verification exercise remains inconclusive and it is still. on-going with several thousands of pensioners still unverified. Several deaths have been recorded during the exercise in various States resulting from exhaustion during struggling to be verified.  It goes without saying that most of our members are incapacitated by various infirmities such as old age, illness of various descriptions and degrees.

The more unfortunate scenario is the fact that many of those verified  still complain of non-payment, underpayment, payment into wrong account and some similar lapses in pension payment. Another serious impediment is the inadequacy or low-quality of materials being used for the screening/capturing exercise. Capturing machines are breaking down in large numbers without adequate arrangement for immediate replacements.

Any visit to any of the verification centres will bring down tears from the eyes of any normal and right thinking person.  At the initial stage of the exercise our union was fully involved and our involvement paid good dividends. But later our involvement was stopped. All efforts to see the former Head of Service of the Federation proved  fruitless.”

According to the union: “It must be emphasized here that all our predicaments as mentioned above came up during the tenure of the immediate past Head of Service Mr. Steve Oronsaye.  His tenure was a curse rather than a blessing for Nigerian pensioners. This stoppage of payment of Union dues by Mr. Oronsaye to our union means strangulating the Union.

The suffering of pensioners multiplied during his tenure. Another speculative report we wish to bring to your notice is that the erstwhile Head of Service (Mr. Oronsaye) is lobbying to come back to government as Special Adviser on Pension. We dare say that Nigerian pensioners have no confidence in him to continue handling their matters. We therefore passionately appeal to your esteemed office to intervene in these unwholesome events, so that the Union can be saved from extinction and our members salvaged from sorrow and untimely deaths.”

“We also gathered from reliable source that the Association of Retired Senior Civil Servants have subterranean influence on the stoppage of payments of Union dues to us on the ground that since the check-off systems being deducted are not being paid to them, we should not retain the right to collect the Union dues any longer.

It is a well-known fact of the law that as an association they are not entitled to collect Union dues. It is also being speculated that it is the stance of the Office of the Head of Service that since pension is not taxable, union dues should? also be stopped. We also wish to demand for the names and other particulars of the 40, 000pensioners allegedly detected so far as ghost pensioners during the verification exercise to be made public especially in the media.”