By Takuruku Emmanuel, LAFIA
Thousands of Local Government pensioners in Nasarawa state yesterday took to the streets of Lafia in protest over unpaid pension entitlements.
The protesters numbering over 3,000 carried placards with various inscriptions such as: ” LG autonomy is not to kill pensioners, ” We say no to LG percentage payment”. ” ALGON in Nasarawa is not fair to LG pensioners” among others.
Spokesperson of the group, Abdullahi Ladan, complained that local government pensioners in the state have not been paid their pension for three months.
He blamed untimely remitance of the statutory 15 percent by local government councils to the pension, saying the development has caused untold hardship to the pensioners.
The spokesperson bemoaned the hardship being experienced by the over 6,000 local government pensioners in the state and therefore appealed to the state government to intervene especially at this period of coronavirus.
Addressing the protesters, the state deputy governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe said that government would sit with leadership of the LG pensioners together with local government chairmen in the state to resolve the matter.
He said that with the local government autonomy, the state government cannot interfair with the affairs of local government system.
While commending the maturity exhibited by the protesters, the deputy governor urged them to remain calm, saying government would intervene with the view to resolving the matter.
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