Barely a day after parents of students on a government scholarship abroad blocked the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja, demanding owed benefits for their children, pensioners of the defunct NITEL-MTEL on Tuesday also staged a protest at the same ministry demanding the payment of their long-overdue entitlements.
It was gathered that the protesters, mostly elderly retirees sat on the floor outside the ministry, expressed their frustration over what they described as government inaction on their grievances.
The coordinator of the group, Okey Ifepe, while addressing newsmen at the venue of the protest in Abuja on Tuesday, said the demonstration had become necessary after repeated appeals to authorities failed to yield results.
According to Ifepe, their demands include 35 months of unpaid pension arrears and exclusion from the recently approved ₦32,000 pension increase.
“We stand here today not as beggars, not as agitators, but as senior citizens who gave our strength, our youth, and our loyalty to this country. Yet after decades of service, we are abandoned, excluded, unpaid, and forgotten. We have been pushed to the wall — and still, we stand with dignity.
“We are owed 35 months of pension arrears. The injustice is clear: every other defunct agency under the same Defined Benefits Scheme, including New Nigerian Newspapers, NICON Insurance, Nigeria Reinsurance, Delta Steel, NNSL, has been fully settled. Only NITEL–MTEL pensioners remain unpaid.
“When President Bola Tinubu approved the ₦32,000 increase for all DBS pensioners, it was meant to be humanitarian relief, not selective, not discriminatory. Other pensioners received it; NITEL–MTEL pensioners did not. How can anyone survive on ₦14,500, ₦16,000, or ₦17,000 a month?”Ifepe said.
In addition to arrears and exclusion from the recent increase, Ifepe said pensioners are still owed the balance of the 12.95% pension increase (2020), the 10.66% pension adjustment (2015), a ₦25,000 palliative promised to all DBS pensioners, verified death benefits for next-of-kin, and payroll for verified pensioners not paid since 2018.
“We respectfully but firmly demand: Payment of the 35 months pension arrears owed to NITEL–MTEL pensioners. Inclusion in the ₦32,000 pension increase, with arrears and retrospective effect. Settlement of the outstanding balance of the 12.95% increase (2020). Payment of the arrears of the 10.66% adjustment (2015).
“Release of the ₦25,000 palliative for NITEL-MTEL pensioners. Immediate payment of verified death benefits to Next-of-Kin. Payroll for verified pensioners has not yet paid since 2018.
Synergy among PTAD, NSIWC, AGF, and Finance — no more conflicting explanations,” he added.
