The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme, Lagos State Council, Michael Omisande, has accused Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of lacking the political will to pay pension increases and arrears owed to retirees.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Omisande said the dispute was not about the state government’s payment of accrued rights but about pension increases that pensioners say have accumulated since 2010.
“The issue is of implementation. It’s not as if the government does not have the money. But the one thing I can say is that the governor does not have the political will to pay the money. That is what we discovered. He was just giving us a leap promise.”
Omisande spoke after pensioners staged a protest at the Lagos State Government House in Alausa on 31 August, demanding payment of what they described as 16 years of outstanding pension arrears. “I was there live. I led a protest to the government house, Alausa, on the 31st of August. And on getting there, we got to the government’s office. As we were singing, dancing, the policemen fired tear gas at us. And then we ran.”
He said four pensioners fainted during the incident and were later revived by police officers.
“So at that scene, four of my pensioners fainted. And then, and actually they were eventually revived by the police.”
Omisande said the protest followed years of engagements with the state government, including letters, meetings and consultations, which he said had not produced the desired result. “We have endured so much because we have engaged them at several forums. We wrote letters to them. We discussed at meetings. We did a lot of consultations with them. But all they are saying is that they will do it.”
He said pensioners had also endured extremely low monthly payments, with some retirees receiving between N50,000 and N70,000 despite having retired on substantially higher salaries. “But a director who retires on 500,000 Naira and you give him 70,000 or 60,000, some 50,000, how can he not survive?”
Omisande said the situation had left some retirees unable to afford basic necessities, including accommodation and regular meals, and claimed that some pensioners had died amid the hardship. “As a graduate, a master degree holder, you look at them, their condition has become worst in Lagos state. That’s how bad it is. Some of them, they don’t even have accommodation. They cannot take to square meals daily. We see many of them dying.”
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