Pensioners urge Kaduna govt to defray N20bn pension liabilities
By Hussaina Yakubu
The National Union of Pensioners (NUP), has urged Gov. Uba Sani of Kaduna State, to pay the N20 billion outstanding pension liabilities owed its members
The State Secretary of the union, Alhassan Balarabe-Musa, said this on Thursday in Kaduna while commenting to the 2025 International Workers’ Day.
He said the Sani administration inherited over N30 billion pension liabilities at its inauguration on May 29,2023.
“The governor has paid over N3.6 billion in 2023. In all, he has paid over N10.4 billion to date.
“We are grateful that he has settled part of the inherited pension liabilities but more efforts should be made in this direction,” he said.
Balarabe-Musa, however, lamented those under the contributory pension scheme were yet to receive payment from 2017 to date.
The scribe said that workers disengaged in 2017, especially those in the service of the local government councils were yet to be paid as their records have been declared missing.
He, therefore, urged the governor to do the needful for this category of pitiable pensioners to get their entitlements, adding that, “this will greatly help in alleviating their sufferings as most of them and their dependents are now living from hand to mouth.”
Balarabe-Musa also advocated for the implementation of the N32,000 pension increase approved by the Federal Government.
“So, if the increase is implemented, pensioners in the state will receive a minimum of N62,000 monthly pension.
“I want the governor to be the second one to implement it as only Yobe is the only state that has so far done so across Nigeria.
“He should emulate his predecessor who was the first governor to implement the N30,000 minimum pension in February 2020.”
The NUP scribe further urged the governor to provide a bus and a plot of land for it to build a befitting State Secretariat
He decried, ” The union had 15 houses at the Marafa Estate in Kaduna city, which were sold at the tale end of the Nasir El-Rufai administration.
“The exercise violated all extant due process regulations as the houses were sold at a paltry sum of N200million, with even no records to where the money went.
“We, therefore, want the governor to probe these sales, revoke it and retrieve these houses for NUP,” he said, adding that the state government provided vehicles to all the trade unions except the NUP. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani
