Some retirees receive as low as N500 monthly pension, says NUP

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) says some of its members receive N500 monthly as pension.

In an interview with NAN on Sunday, Alhassan Musa, NUP secretary in Kaduna, described the condition of retirees as “pathetic”.

Musa appealed to the federal government for an upward review of its members’ pension, saying most retirees live in precarious conditions.

“The worst affected are pensioners in most of the southern and oil producing states in spite of getting fat allocations from  the federation account,” Musa said.

“The condition of pensioners in some northern states and the FCT are far better up, as some of them received between N3,500 and N18,000 monthly pension.”

Musa, who is also the NUP scribe in charge of the 19 northern states, said some of the pensioners under the federal government were still receiving N10,000.

He called for a 50 percent increase of the minimum pension to reflect the social and economic realities in the country.

“The union proposed a 50 percent increment even under the defunct N30,000 national minimum wage,” he said.

“We are anticipating that the 50 percent increment would be approved in line with the new N70,000 national minimum wage.

“Even under the federal government, some pensioners are receiving N10,000 minimum pension.

“We are hoping that the federal government will balance it up so that no pensioner will receive less than N70,000 as his/her monthly pension.

“Honestly, these people are facing a lot of challenges because some of them retired in the last 10 years, and yet to draw their benefits.

“It is really pathetic, this is happening in Kaduna and other states.”