Scores of pensioners in September 2022 protested against the nonpayment of their pensions and gratuities by the Niger State Government.
The pensioners blocked the main gate to the Government House and chanted war songs during the protest.
They also carried placards with various inscriptions and vowed to remain at the entrance to the Government House until their demands are met.
The Chairman of the Pensioners, Mr. Ibrahim Mahmud, said that they decided to storm the Government House for the second time in less than a month because of the nonchalant attitude of the state government to their plight.
Mahmud said that despite assurances from the state government that their entitlements would be paid, nothing meaningful has come their ways.
He said: “Our members have continued to die from very avoidable sicknesses and diseases because we had the misfortune of serving Niger State Government.
“At a time we are supposed to enjoy the reward of our labour, we are being punished.”
“We have become people without any hope, homeless, some of our children have been sent home because we can’t afford to pay their school fees.”
Meanwhile, in Ghana a similar unfair treatment has been meted out to Pensioners over their investments.
Bondholders in Ghana have asked Government to exempt them from the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange programme but the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has stubbornly refused to heed to the cry of the pensioners and other bondholders.
The group recently picketed at the Finance Ministry to demand a total exemption of their investments from the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Self-willed Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to make an appearance before the Business Committee of the House TODAY, February 14.
This comes after the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, directed the Committee to summon the Minister to brief the House on the Government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) that targets bond holdings of pensioners.
