The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has assured retired civil servants under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPS) that the payment of their pension outstanding arrears will commence next week.
Edun, gave the assurance following the protests of the retirees on Tuesday during which they completely blocked the main gate of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja to press home their demand.
The minister, during a post-protest parley with the retirees, assured: “We will start next week to pay everything that we can under the current budget as approved by the National Assembly.
“What has happened now is that there is backlog in terms of contributions and there is a solution.
“There has been a committee under the Office of the Head Of Service which has met the minister of budget, and I. We have a plan for dealing with the backlog under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
“We are committed to paying it. It has to be paid this year. We are committed to doing that starting from next week. We have to have a solution that takes care of everybody, and that is being worked on.
“‘It’s going to be a question of going to the capital market and raising an instrument that allows that backlog to be cleared once and for all.
“We are going to present to the president, a viable solution using the financial market taking care of the huge backlog under the CPS”, he added.
While reiterating the government’s commitment to pensioners’ welfare, Edun lamented that the retirees had “had to take this step and I assure you that any time that you or your leaders seek audience with me, I will be available in the office.”
According to him, he was not aware of the November 11 deadline set by the pensioners for the payment of their outstanding arrears, otherwise he would never have allowed the disruptive protest to take place.
Speaking earlier during the protest, the NUPCPS National Chairman, Mr Sylva Nwaiwu , said CPS had never benefited from any increment of the National Minimum Wage Act 2024 even as he alleged that the government had failed to pay the outstanding pensioners for over 20 months, precisely since March 2023 till now.
He explained: “Our senior citizens are suffering, after using our youthful years to serve our father land and we get this in return. Please, use your good office to help us. Some of our members are bedridden and some have died in the struggle.
“We cannot feed ourselves, take care of our family or take care of our medical bills anymore”, Nwaiwu rued.
The chairman said that the union had submitted several letters on their outstanding entitlements to the minister’s office but none was acknowledged, which compelled the union members to stage the protest.
