A senior citizen in Kano (name withheld) collapsed on Thursday during a demonstration by pensioners who were protesting alleged unpaid gratuities, deductions, and non-harmonisation of pensions.
The male retiree collapsed outside the State Government House and had to be rushed to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment.
The aggrieved protestors carried placards with different inscriptions. One of them read, “Pay Us Our Pension Arrears, Pay Us Our Death Benefits, Pensioners Are Dying, Comply With Kano Pension Law 2006.”
The state chairman, of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Kabiru Ado Minjibir said over N3 billion has been deducted from the retirees' monthly pensions since January 2021.
“From January 2021 to August 2022, N2,573,949,000.61 was deducted from local government pensioners.
“And from March 2021 to August 2022, N906,917,595.17 was deducted from the state pensioners’ monthly entitlement,” he said.
Comrade Minjibir urged the Kano State government to address the plight of the retirees and save the state’s pension fund from collapsing.
“We are calling on the state government to address the plight of the retirees from these avoidable lingering deductions.”
The Kano State Head of Civil Service, Usman Bala, who addressed the pensioners said
The government has taken adequate measures to address their matter.
“The issue of retirees' deductions started during the previous administration. However, we will employ 1,000 additional staff to address the monthly deduction problem in the State.”
