Tunde Osowe
THE President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has charged the Federal Government and other administrators on the need to effect a new pension scheme administration in the country with a view to alleviate, “once and for all” the untold hardship being experienced by the nation’s most senior citizens.
The CAN President said this yesterday, while speaking at a programme organised by a non-governmental organisation, the Macedonian Initiative International (MII) at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
Oritsejafor who said that “it is dangerous for any nation not to treat her senior citizens properly”, also stated that a nation is judged by the way she treats her pensioners and children.
Quoting the Holy Bible, he said: “My Bible made me to understand that ‘honour your fathers and mothers so that your days may be long’. This pension is an obligation owed to you and must be paid with dignity.
“This is unbecoming of a nation that pride itself high among committee of nations. It baffles me to know that these people in charge of the verification are Nigerians. Don’t they have fathers? Don’t they have mothers? I am sure they do. I wonder if they ever think to become an elder one day. Even if you are not having parents any more, mere seeing an elderly person, I think you should have the picture of your own biological parents from him or her. We are going to deploy all our machinery to ensure that things are done the proper way. Together with the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), we are going to pursue it to a logical conclusion.”
The co-Chairman of NIREC together with the Sultan of Sokoto, maintained that it is not possible to underplay the importance of elders in the country, noting that it will be well with Nigeria if the elderly ones are well taken care of.
“We need this culture in Nigeria, of learning how to do the right thing at all time, doing it well and with joy. I want to believe that their heart is not too hard to hear what we are saying. My heart, indeed, goes out to them. They have suffered, laboured for their fatherland, and this is not the best way to reward them. They must be treated with respect and dignity,” the cleric added.
The co-ordinator of the programme, Pastor Ladi Thompson, noted that cruelty to the aged and disdain for the young ones are sure signs of a moribund society and symptoms of decadence.
“The payment of pensions, after long years of dutiful service, should be reckoned as a debt owed to those whose labour helped to create the structure on which Nigeria stands today. The abuses, denials, delays, diversions and hardships that our senior citizens have suffered across the nation because of their legitimate entitlements are unspeakable,” Thompson said, adding however that history books will record that there was a generation of Nigerian elders that had the moral courage to look beyond themselves to demand fairness, justice, equity and truth.
The Teacher Pensioners Association of Nigeria (TEPAN), according to Thompson, is demanding among other things: A user friendly pension scheme administration that will celebrate their old age instead of shortening their lifespan, payment of pensions without delay, payment that is void of physical hardship, modern fool-proof electronic methods of verification and reasonable compensation to traumatised pensioners who have suffered endlessly under the old system. Others include the botched National Pension Commission project and the harmonisation of all arrears to reflect the modern trend in the civil service.
General Secretary of the Lagos State Chapter of the association, Rev. James Owoyemi, stated that the Federal Government and other states of the federation have reneged on their promises over the years, a development he said contravenes the provision Chapter IV, Article 173, numbers (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria captioned: “Protection of Pension Rights.”
The Chairman of the association, Mr Folagbade Afolabi, used the occasion to appeal to relevant authorities to address the various challenges inhibiting effective and efficient pension administration in Nigeria, saying if done accordingly, it will change the battered image of the country for good.
