NIGERIA Union of Pensioners, NUP, has expressed concern over non-unionisation of pensioners of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS.

The 11th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference, NDC, of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which ended yesterday in Abuja, was not just about the election of a new set of leaders to lead NLC for the next four years among others, it also provided a unique opportunity for politicians in the two leading political parties in Nigeria; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its All Progressives Congress, APC, counterpart, to out do each other and woo the over 3200 delegates from across the country, their families, friends and other guests including veterans unionists, ahead of the general election. They used their thoughts on the socio-economic and political situations in the country to try to sway delegates and others at the conference with special focus on jobs creation and similar issues.

Pensioners in Abia State have called on the state government to pay their arrears of pensions and gratuities, lamenting that many of them have died due to lack of money to meet their needs especially medical. The aggrieved pensioners who stormed Abia State Government House appealed to Governor Theodore Orji to ensure the payment of their arrears of pensions and gratuities, saying many of their colleagues had died out of frustration.

Increasingly, there are fears that the present government of Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, may not enlist the state workers into the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, introduced in 2004 following the Pension Reform Act, PRA, 2004 (as amended in 2014).

Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, CDWR, has condemned in strong terms the neglect of the Nigerian Airways pensioners and the refusal to pay their pension to the year 1999 by the federal government.