•Retirees seek extension of exercise
About 20 pensioners collapsed yesterday at the Federal Secretariat in Benin, the Edo State capital, while waiting to be screened in the ongoing verification exercise. They were rushed to the hospital by their relatives.
Several others could not control their bowels.
Some pensioners, not resident in Benin, sleptat the secretariat until they could be verified.
Only two data capturing machines were available for the screening of over 20,000 pensioners.
Pensioners that are disabled and too old could not join others in the rush to be screened.
They lamented that the Federal Government did not make adequate arrangements for the exercise.
Seventy-year-old Ikheloa Felix, who retired from the Ministry of Agriculture, said the Federal Government should have decentralised the process, instead of allowing all of them to assemble in one place.
Mrs. Airemen Cecilia said: “To be a pensioner is not a curse. The whole exercise is poor. Something should be done about it.”
Jonathan Amayo, who said it was his fifth day on the queue, said he was yet to be paid his pension arrears and gratuity since he retired in 2000.
“We are dying in silence. They should pay us. This yearly screening will yield nothing,” he said.
Anthony Esene, whose leg had been amputated, said he has been on the queue for three days.
He said he retired in 2006 and is yet to be paid his pension and gratuity.
The State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Mr. Ikpomwosa Igbineweka, appealed to the government to extend the duration of the exercise, which would end on Sunday.
He said only 2,000 of the 20,000 pensioners had been screened .
via The Nation
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