Hundreds of pensioners besieged the entrance gate to Government House, Makurdi, Benue State over non-payment of 25 months pension arrears and gratuity. The angry pensioners were sighted carrying placards bearing various inscription as: Ortom, Pay Us Our 25 Months Pension Arrears And Gratuity; Ortom, Enough Is Enough and Governor Ortom Has Been Out Of Benue State For Three Weeks In USA And Japan, among others. They appealed to President Muhamnadu Buhari to help Benue Pensioners, saying they were dying in silence in their own country. The retirees also urged Governor Ortom to create Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps for pensioners in the state, noting that their deaths on daily basis was due to inability to pay their medical bills. Leader of the pensioners, Comrade Peter Ikyado, who lamented that the governor ignored elderly people who have rendered selfless service to their fatherland to die in silence, noted that they have not committed any crime by retiring. Another pensioner said as much as pensioners could not afford to sponsor their children to school in China, Governor Ortom should pay them their pensions and gratuity so they could sponsor their children to attend school in Benue. He also questioned why the Governor found it difficult to pay their pensions and gratuity in spite of the yearly budgetary provision in the state’s budget for them. But in its reaction, Chief Press secretary to the governor, Tever Akase, said Ortom was fully committed to the welfare of senior citizens and appealed to the pensioners to trust the assurances the governor gave them through the Deputy Governor and Head of Service recently. However, at the time of filing this report, some of the pensioners confirmed that they have started receiving an alert for one-month arrear.

2019-09-05