Pay our full entitlements, pensioners beg FG

The Association of Federal Contributory Scheme Pensioners in Oyo State on Monday appealed to the Federal Government to promptly pay the full entitlements of members so as to ameliorate their sufferings.

The association’s President, Mr Matthew Shittu, made the call in an interview with our reporter in Ibadan.

Shittu said retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) were being short-changed as a result of the non-payment of their full entitlements.

He said that the Federal Government was still owing pensioners who joined the CPS at inception accrued interests on their initial entitlements as at July 2004, adding that this was deposited with the CBN as bonds.

“We demand from the Federal Government the payment of our accrued interest on our money bonded with the CBN since 2004 when the Federal Government retired us.

“They only pay our accrued rights and the money we contributed to the PFA leaving outstanding the accrued interest,’’ he said.

Shittu demanded the calculation and payment of all accrued interests for all pensioners as at July 2004 at the government’s official interest rate.

The association’s president said that the seeming silence of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on the accrued interests payable to retirees under the new scheme was a cause of concern to his members.

He called on the Federal Government to direct the commission, CBN, Account-General of Federation and other relevant agencies which are custodians of contributory pensions to calculate and pay the outstanding interest of pensioners’ bond without delay.

Shittu also called for the payment of the retirement benefits of pensioners who retired since January 2017.

“We have written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, DG of PenCom, Minister of Finance, National Assembly and other arms of government in Nigeria for them to come to our assistance and address our plight,’’ he said.