Home |  Elder Rights |  Health |  Pension Watch |  Rural Aging |  Armed Conflict |  Aging Watch at the UN  

  SEARCH SUBSCRIBE  
 

Mission  |  Contact Us  |  Internships  |    

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



We're Being Starved to Death, Pensioners Cry Out

By Fred Iwenjora, Vanguard

Nigeria 

July 16, 2005

There is this unsolicited respect and reverence reserved for the elderly all over Nigeria. Thus, it is almost considered a taboo to see a young man sit down in a bus when an elderly fellow stands. The younger elements bow their heads in a show of respect when greeting the oldies.

Ironically, the above privileges enjoyed by these senior citizens sharply contrast with the shabby and unkind manners they are treated once they vacate active service to their fatherland and become pensioners. Ordinarily, life in retirement ought to be period of enjoyable rest and re-dedication to the service of God in their last days on earth.

But that is not the lot of Nigerian pensioners. Rather than rest in a serene environment with his grandchildren ensuring that it is not dull moments all the way, the Nigerian pensioner has been turned into a card-carrying protester and a laughing stock of the country he gave his youth.

Unlike what the composers of the national anthem promised, "the labours of our heroes past" are really in vain. This is because their entitlements are not always paid after retirement, their monthly pensions remain consistently irregular. Yet, those responsible for this pitiful plight are neither apologetic nor repentant.

Such treatment cuts across different professions: military personnel, teachers, Railway workers, medical workers, civil servants among others. And like Pa Duke Okosuns, the 86-year-old father of ace musician, Sunny Okosuns told this paper few weeks back, "most of us (pensioners) are dying because of hunger."

Actually, there have often been stories of these old people slumping and dying while on queues so that government can verify their documents in order that they can receive their entitlements that never come.

Today, it is nothing to worry about in government offices to see these senior citizens mill around pension offices, looking distant, battered and shouldering the burden of poverty with pains and agonies.

Rest is Sweet After Labour goes the motto of the Nigerian pensioners.

But does this represent what the old men and women who faithfully served their nation go through nowadays? Or is 'Rest now Bitter after Labour?'

About 10,000 military pensioners threatened mass suicide in Lagos five years ago to drive home the point that their miseries have reached an intolerable level. But did that change anything? And what can be done to positively change things so that the elderly in our midst who served Nigeria with all their strength during their youthful days can, indeed, have a rest that will be sweet and peaceful after their labour?

Comrade Cornelius Chibundu Onyeji, the national chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Railway Branch, is sending a distress call to President Olusegun Obasanjo, the 36 state governors and other concerned officials to come to the aid of the pensioners and save them from dying of hunger.

"We thank the Almighty God that you met us here still alive," Onyeji told Saturday Vanguard in Lagos. "At our ages, we cannot be afraid of death, but that is no reason why we (pensioners) should starve to death. I'm not talking of Nigeria Railway Corporation's pensioners only. I'm talking of all Nigerian pensioners who have been suffering as a result of the non-payment of their entitlements.

"I am using this opportunity on behalf of all the retirees in Nigeria, especially the Railway pensioners, to beg Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the President of Nigeria, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to, please, make money available for the payment of the gratuities and other arrears. Concerning the Railway pensioners, I beg them also to speed up and pay us the twenty four months they are owing all of us since January 2003 - December 2004. We beg them to clear the arrears and save the rest of us from dying. We'd lost a lot of our members. We don't want to lose more members as a result of inability to treat themselves when sick or due to high blood pressure."

"Everyday, you hear stories of Railway pensioners dying while on the queue to receive the miserable pension. Some died without even receiving any part of it at all. Whatever we are receiving now that they are paying the January to April 2005 entitlements will be used to settle other debts which many of us owe."

According to the union leader, the demands on pensioners are so much that part payment of the meagre pensions would not lift the burden on them. "When you don't receive anything from government as payment for your pension, do you tell the story to the hospitals and ask them to treat you because you have not been paid, or to the danfo driver? What do you tell the market woman whom you always buy from?

"Notwithstanding that most of us are older than the men and women in power today, we are on our knees and beg the Federal Government to pay pensioners our dues so that some of us will have a taste of the fruits of our labour before we die.

"Now, take my case as an example. I served the Nigeria Railways for 35 years. I worked at the O & C (Operation and Commercial) as a wireless operator before going to the mechanical and engineering department as a technical officer.

It was in 1957 that I started my training at Ebute Metta. After that , I was posted to Zaria, then Minna before they sent me to Makurdi, Port Harcourt and then Lagos.

"The Railways at the time I joined under the British was a very interesting to work. Things were going on well in terms of the operations of the system. Staff were well paid and promptly too.

"I weep today when I walk into this (Railway) compound and see stranded coaches, wagons and the overgrown bushes. Even the workers now are being owed over eight months of salary arrears. Only one train moves from Lagos to Kano once a week. And this is not regular. We have a shuttle in the evenings and this does not fetch any money. The train is supposed to carry load. In those days, we carried groundnuts, palm oil, cocoa, cattle and other products to deliver from one end of the country to the other.

"Chei, this country has been spoilt and the case is getting hopeless. If the Federal Government puts money into the railways, then things will change because train is the best way of transporting those things safely. Let them put the right people into the railways and it will work well. You can't bring a shoe maker into a tailoring position and expect him to work well. A medical doctor should not be made to take charge of the courts. That is what is currently going on in Nigeria."

"During Abacha's tenure, there was a time there was no money to pay the pensioners and he ordered that money be made available and it was made available. So, why won't the president (Obasanjo) do something to clear the arrears? However, we are happy that we the Nigerian railway pensioners have been put into the budget. So, we thank President Obasanjo for doing that."

"But as you know, a backlog of 24 months pension is not something to cheer about. We are also worried about the plight of other pensioners who have remained unpaid and who are alive by the grace of God. Let's do something for the pensioners. It's a miracle that many of us are alive today, and that is the truth when you realise when we pass through everyday."

"Men and women stay over five years after retirement and they are still owed their gratuities and other dues. How do they survive? As you see me now, can I farm? It is the same with every other pensioner. I am begging Obasanjo to come to our aid fast before we all die due to neglect. Or is help going to come after we might have died?" Comrade Onyeji wondered.

Frederick Odion Imoudu is a nephew to Nigeria's number one labour leader of all times, Pa Michael Imoudu. And as secretary-general of NRC's Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Odion says that there is no justification for the hard times that retirees are made to endure.

"As long as there is life, we continue to pray and wish that God hears our prayers and touches the heart of those in authority to pay us our benefits as retirees," he said. "I tell you, it has been very difficult to live these past years without earning anything. It is difficult to imagine that you work for a country and there is no pension to receive after all your years of labour. The hardship which the pensioners face is too much.

"Imagine how you feel when you are supposed to pay your house rent and you don't have the money. Imagine the insults and threats from your landlord. What about your children who are supposed to pay their school fees and you can't afford that? Then, what do you say to your child who is hungry and there is no food? People should remember that we're human beings."

In the midst of all these troubles, Imoudu finds succour in the hope that God will surely intervene. "It has been a hell of a life. But God knows the best. He will intervene one day. I am hopeful. I believe that it is this hope that has kept me alive. And the same for millions of other pensioners all over the country. But we appeal to the people in power to remember that as old men and women, we have families to cater for and other responsibilities."

Though things are rough with Odion Imoudu as he confessed, he still managed to spare some thoughts for the Nigeria Railway Corporation of old and what he would want to see. "Whenever I get to that mechanical section (where he worked), I shed tears about how the nation has degenerated. I am forced to remember the white man and his methods. He was dedicated to his work and committed to seeing things work. Nigerians lack loyalty, dedication and the culture of maintenance. If we had these qualities, I don't think things would go the way they are now. If government is sincere and believes that the railway should be revitalised, it will do that. The people in government are not sincere. For now, I don't see any sign of that."

"They should look into the capacity of the management and put better qualified people. If it is a foreign company, then so be it. If you talk of privatising, then how do you do it? What are we doing with the benefits of our God-given resources? Are our hospitals funded? Do we have pipe-borne water? Do we pay our pensioners? Nigerian pensioners are like the country itself. There is a huge debt overhang on the pensioners. In the spirit of the debt relief that we got, let the country relieve us from the many problems we as pensioners face because our entitlements are not paid."

As for the duo of Musediku Oladele Olisa, the treasurer and Emma Ilechukwu, both pensioners, the time has come for the government to do something especially now that the creditor nations have granted Nigeria an eighteen billion dollar debt relief.

"The most painful aspect is that many of the pensioners cannot talk of educating their children," said Olisa. "Where are they going to get the money from? Many had since withdrawn their children from schools. The worst of the problem is with the landlords who do not want to take any excuses. If he takes an excuse today, how is he going to do that next month and next year since majority of the Nigerian pensioners may not receive their dues even in the next six months?"

Said Ilechjukwu: "It is only God that is helping His children and nothing more to how we've been surviving. This is not fair at all. Amongst our ranks, you will see beggars; you weill see those whose wives have practically turned to prostitutes and those whose wives have left them because they can no longer provide for the family. Just look around and see our elders here (in Ebute Meta) who are not supposed to be here all standing on a long queue. Many of our colleagues have died while waiting for this small money. Old men who ought to have returned to their hometowns to rest cannot do so because they don't have anything to depend on that will take care of them. So, they prefer to live and town in the cities. It's that bad."


Copyright © Global Action on Aging
Terms of Use  |  Privacy Policy  |  Contact Us