Pensioners on the Adamawa State Government payroll have asked for a review of their N4,000 monthly pension.
Speaking at the weekend through their chairman, Mohammed Sali, the pensioners said the monthly N4,000 is far too unrealistic to continue.
“At the present in Adamawa State, the monthly pension is only N4,000. Relate this to the life we have to live,” Mohammed Sali told a Media Talk Africa correspondent, adding, “Our staple food here is maize. One bag of maize today is N40,000. Now, what can a pensioner eat. How can he buy medicine?”
He said pensioners have needs that are out of reach because of the low pension, explaining, “Majority of pensioners live on drugs. Such need comes with age. The youngest among us is 60 years old. What I expect everyone to appreciate is that after physically challenged people, it should be pensioners. Pensioners also need special care.”
Although Sali, who became the Adamawa Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, chairman last year, could not recall exactly when the N4,000 monthly pension started in the state, he dates it back at least 10 years.
He said, “We have been receiving this N4,000 pension since the government of Murtala Nyako (Governor between 2007 and 2014), and pension is supposed to be reviewed every five years. When minimum wage for serving civil servants get reviewed, pension remains. That has been the sad norm.”
He asked the state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, to intervene, saying, “Governor Fintiri knows our cry and has promised to look at it. I am using this opportunity to urge him to fulfil the promise.”
