1. To
organize members into different classes where they will be taught about the
truth of God’s word..
The pensioners lamented that they have been placed under
worse conditions, adding that their lives have been worse than ever.
The pensioners carried placards with various inscriptions
such as; ‘pay us our pensions’, ‘EFCC come and rescue LG pensioners in Benue’,
‘Gov. Samuel Ortom pay LG pensioners their pension arrears,’ ‘Ortom merge us
with Old pensioners with Bureau for LG”, ‘Governor use the billions from Paris
Club to pay pensioners’, and ‘we are dying, no money to buy drugs and pay our
children school fees’.
The Chairman of the LG pensioners, Comrade Michael Vembe who
spoke to the deputy governor, Engineer Benson Abounu who represented governor
Samuel Ortom, said that some of the pensioners now sleep in uncompleted
building and by the roadside in their respective areas, saying, ‘we have no
money to maintain our respective homes.’
Vembe stated that the pensioners need their entitlement to
pay their children’s school fees.
He alleged that some of the local government pensioners have
not been captured and added that those who were captured could not benefit from
the N200m monthly the governor approved for pensioners because the fund was
insufficient.
“I want to appeal to our governor to place us on monthly
pension, the group of local government retirees who retired since 2010, 2011,
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 have not been captured.”
He appealed to governor Ortom to grant approval of N70m only
to place this category of pensioners on monthly pension allowance like those
who have already been captured.
Comrade Vembe attributed the hardship been faced by
pensioners in the state to the inability of the ministry of Finance to continue
to release the N200m so directed by the governor.
He called on state government to shift the payment of their
pension arrears from the ministry of finance to Bureau of local government and
chieftaincy affairs.
In his response, Governor Ortom, who was represented by his
deputy, Engineer Benson Abounu, enjoined the protesters to exercise patience.
He assured them that the state government would release funds
to them as soon as Paris Club fund is released.
“The governor asked me to meet with you and to tell you to
exercise patient, we are expecting some funds from Paris Club as soon as the
money comes we will address the issue”.
“We cannot say precisely when the money will come, actually
we thought that the money would hit out bank last week but the minister of
finance said there was paucity of funds, so anytime the money will come and we
promise to pay something to alleviate your problems”, he concluded.
1. To organize members into different classes where they will be taught about the truth of God’s word.
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