EDITORIAL! Between Governor Oyebanji and the Association of Senior Retired Citizens, NUP, PAN

Governor Oyebanji dodges payment of humongous gratuity, employes divide and rule to set pensioners against themselves.

Ekiti State Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of Ekiti State has devised and employed divide and rule to put asunder the Nigeria Union of Pensioners in Ekiti State, as a way of shutting up the pensioners from pressing for their demand for the payment of humongous outstanding gratuity arrears owed the Pensioners over the years.

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A staggering amount of 30 billion Naira is owed the retired workers, who spent their productive years in serving the state meritoriously, only for them to retire into poverty and penury, following the refusal of Ekiti State government to pay their retirement benefits.

The latest antics of the government to ensure that the retired workers would not demand for their legitimate entitlements is to divide the Union into two by using the immediate past state chairman of Ekiti State NUP, Mr Joel Olomi Akinola, to lead a dissident rebellious faction named Pensioners Association of Nigeria (PAN), which is being backed powerfully by government, through financial backing and other incentives.

Among such incentives are renting of an office along bank road in Ado-Ekiti, which was furnished with old furniture of the old conference hall in the old governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti. 

The office accommodation, along bank road, now serves as PAN state office.

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Ekiti State government has stopped payment of the one percent of pension it used to pay to the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, as check-off dues while it is financing Akinola’s PAN recklessly.

Akinola’s grouse with NUP began on November 28, 2024 when the delegate conference of the Union was to be held, during which a new executive committee was to be elected. 

Akinola and his executive were about to complete their first term, while a new executive was to be elected to succeed them on that date. Akinola and members of the team sought reflection into their respective offices.

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The national headquarters of the Union insisted that on the day of the delegate conference, Akinola and his team should give account of their stewardship to the conference. The Treasurer who presented the financial report to the conference said he only saw the report a few moment before the commencement of the conference. But all the same he presented the financial report. .

When the Auditor was asked to corroborate the financial report, he said he only saw the report five minutes before the commencement of the conference. 

He disagreed with part of the report which says two hundred thousand Naira was paid for the auditing of the account of the Union. 

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The Treasurer could not provide satisfactory answers to questions raised by some delegates on the spendings of the Union. 

Officials of the Union who came to supervise the election from the national headquarters of NUP took a break from the conference and conferred with themselves. 

They announced postponement of the election, and set up a caretaker committee to oversee affairs of the Union for three months. The officials also set up an investigative committee to probe the account of the Union.

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The investigative committee sat several times during which they invited Akinola and his team for scrutiny. 

At the end of the day, the committee found Akinola and his team guilty of gross financial misconduct. 

They were asked to refund part of the money they mismanaged. Akinola and his team never appealed against the report of the investigative committee. 

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Another recommendation of the investigative committee was that members of the team of Akinola should not contest election into NUP offices for the next four years.

That was how Akinola, with government backing, formed their rebellious dissident PAN in Ekiti State. 

This is a ploy to cause disaffection among leaders of the Pensioners in Ekiti State to avoid payment of their outstanding humongous arrears of gratuity.  

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Another fear of government is that if the pensioners remain United, they will push for the harmonization of their monthly pensions, which have not been reviewed upward since the creation of Ekiti State. 

Recent increase in pension was when government added ₦20,000 across board for pensioners in the state. 

This is a far cry from what pensioners are supposed to earn. The constitutional provision is that pension should be reviewed every five years or whenever there is adjustment in salary of workers (or whichever comes first). 

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In spite of this constitutional provision, pension has never been reviewed in Ekiti State, especially, recently when Ekiti State government added ₦20, 000 to pension across board.

Out of the humongous outstanding arrears of gratuity owed Ekiti State pensioners, the state government is paying N150 million Naira every month, which will amount to ₦1.8 billion in one year. 

With the total outstanding of about ₦30 billion, there appears to be very little or no hope that most of these pensioners would ever receive their gratuity before they die. 

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The irony of the matter is that many aged pensioners are coping with diseases which are usually associated with old age. This may be consuming a lot of money from the Pensioners.

Akinola has found refuge with the state government which now pampers his PAN with all it needs while withholding the check-off dues which is due to NUP. 

The focus of government is to divide the Union and prevent it from having a common loud voice to demand for their entitlement. 

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For example, during the recent statewide endorsement rally for BAO and President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, PAN was introduced by the MC who pretended as if NUP was not represented at the Ekiti Parapo pavilion, venue of the programme.

Investigation revealed that Akinola and his PAN are being promoted over NUP by a cabal in the Oyebanji government. 

Pensioners in Ekiti State receive the lowest pension rates in southwest Nigeria. The  description of President Tinubu on the way Governors are treating Nigerians in relation to the huge amounts of money coming to the coffers of the states is apt to the way pensioners are being treated in Ekiti State. 

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Many pensioners in the state are dying on a daily basis out of frustration due to their inability to get their gratuities paid so many years after they retired. 

Investigation however has revealed that Akinola and his PAN are being promoted over NUP by a cabal in the Oyebanji’s government. Top members of the current government have been labeled as the cabal.

Ekiti is now the state where Government spend’s the people and not the humongous allocation they receive from the federation account every month.

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BAO has worsened the situation by withholding part of pension as check-off dues since May this year. He has also divided the NIgeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Ekiti State into two to subvert the Union.

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