The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Southwest Zone has expressed concern over the increase in the price of petroleum and electricity tariff by the Federal Government, describing the action as cruel.
To this end, the senior citizens appealed to the Federal Government to consider the consequential implications of such increment on the common citizens and make necessary adjustment without further delay.
The decision of the pensioners was part of resolutions reached during the Bi-monthly meeting of the union, held in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti capital.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the Public Relations Officer of the Union, Mr Olusegun Abatan, said the increment of prices of the commodities came at a very wrong period.
He added that the period the increment came was when citizens were still struggling to recover from economic hardship caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
Abatan explained that wages and pension paid by government could not meet the needs of pensioners and workers, hence the need for government to reverse the increment.
He also called on the National Salaries and Wages Commission to review the pension wage to enable pensioners get better income to address their immediate needs.
The Southwest pensioners expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun to the plight of pensioners in his state, saying that the union would not continue to watch him treat members with disdain.
In his remark, the Chairman Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Ekiti State Chapter, Mr Ayo Kumapayi, said that some pensioners were still earning as low as two thousand five hundred naira monthly.
This, he said, was due to the inability of some states government to upgrade them to necessary plans.
The State Executive members from all the Southwest states attended the meeting held at the NUP secretariat, near the Old Governor’s office, Ado-Ekiti.
