NASU, CONUA, NAPTAN to FG: You can\u2019t scrap \u2018irrelevant courses\u2019 in varsities<\/a><\/p>\nOlowoyo, who serves as the National General Secretary, Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, said available data suggests that nearly half of public servants die shortly after\u00a0retirement\u2014a trend he described as both tragic and unacceptable.<\/p>\n
According to him, life after\u00a0retirement\u00a0in Nigeria has become a period marked not by rest and dignity, but by hardship, frustration, and, in many cases, premature death.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter dedicating the most productive years of their lives to national service, many retirees are abandoned to face economic hardship, emotional trauma, and deteriorating health without adequate support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He attributed the high mortality rate among\u00a0pensioners\u00a0to several factors, including non-payment of\u00a0pensions\u00a0and gratuities, prolonged arrears, and the rising cost of living. In some cases, retirees reportedly survive on as little as N3,000 monthly\u2014an amount widely considered insufficient to meet basic needs.<\/p>\n
Olowoyo also pointed to the failure of some state governments and private sector employers to comply with\u00a0pension\u00a0laws, particularly the Contributory\u00a0Pension\u00a0Scheme, CPS. He noted that despite reforms introduced since 2004 and strengthened in 2014, many employers either fail to remit\u00a0pension\u00a0contributions or delay payments indefinitely.<\/p>\n
\u201cNon-compliance, weak enforcement mechanisms, and administrative inefficiencies have continued to undermine the effectiveness of the\u00a0pension\u00a0system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beyond financial hardship, the NCSU scribe highlighted the psychological toll on retirees, many of whom face stressful verification exercises, long-distance travel to process entitlements, and uncertainty about when\u2014or if\u2014they will be paid.<\/p>\n
He further condemned what he described as \u201cinsensitive attitudes\u201d among some public officials toward\u00a0pensioners, noting that such sentiments erode trust in government and devalue the contributions of retirees.<\/p>\n
The Nigeria Union of\u00a0Pensioners, NUP, has also voiced similar concerns, warning that worsening economic conditions, including rising fuel prices and inflation, have deepened the suffering of retirees nationwide.<\/p>\n
Despite recent interventions\u2014such as the Federal Government\u2019s approval of\u00a0pension\u00a0bond payments and incremental increases in\u00a0pension\u00a0benefits\u2014Olowoyo insisted that more comprehensive reforms are urgently needed.<\/p>\n
He called for strict enforcement of\u00a0pension\u00a0laws, prompt payment of entitlements, expansion of healthcare coverage for retirees, and the introduction of social welfare programmes to support aging citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cPensioners\u00a0are not a burden. They are citizens who have earned the right to live in dignity after years of service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Olowoyo urged labour unions, civil society organisations, and government agencies to prioritise\u00a0pension\u00a0reforms, warning that failure to act would continue to cost lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current situation raises a painful question about our values as a nation,\u201d he added. \u201cNo society that neglects its elderly can claim to be just or humane.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for urgent, coordinated action at all levels of government to address what he described as a growing national crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Victor Ahiuma-Young The General\u00a0Secretary of the\u00a0Nigeria Civil Service Union, NCSU, Gbenga Olowoyo, has raised the\u00a0 alarm over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,1447,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-553238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-pensioners","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}