Matthew Otoijagha
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, South-South zonal council, has tasked Bayelsa State Government on the urgent need to implement the 33 percent pension increment to reduce the suffering of pensioners in the state.
The pensioners also called on the state government to pay the seven months pension arrears, as well as gratuity and death benefits to pensioners concerned. In a resolution adopted at the end of the South-South zonal meeting of NUP in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, by the zonal chairman and secretary, P. Naruwa and C. Essien, respectively, the group said:
“Zonal council appreciates the efforts of Governor of Bayelsa State to reduce the 10 and half month pensioners’ arrears to seven months. “But we appeal to the governor not to relent in clearing the remaining seven months for the benefits of the aged whose need for drugs does not consider recession in the country.
“We call on the state government to take cognizance of the following in dealing with the aged: the 1999 Constitution Section 173(4) states that Pension Allowances should not be taxed; any deduction made by whatever name from pension allowances is tantamount to taxation, which is an infringement on the law of the land.”