After being denied their gratuities and pensions for 10 years, some distraught police retirees heaved a sigh of relief when they were paid barely one month after their pathetic story was published by The Nation. KUNLE AKINRINADE captures the mixed bag of joy and apprehension among the
FOR about one decade after they retired from the Nigeria Police Force, they waited in vain for their gratuities and pensions. Some of them had died in the process, while the surviving ones wallowed in misery and penury. But reprieve came the ways of some of the officers after their pathetic stories were published by The Nation on Saturday, August 15, 2015.
Penultimate week, the affected officers took turns to speak with our correspondent on the telephone after receiving parts of their retirement benefits and pension from the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).
The story titled, A Decade Without a Dime, had highlighted the plight of police retirees Ekanem Uwem (ASP); Alhaji Abiodun Sanni (ASP); Essien Aniefiok James (DSP); Wahab Ishola (ASP); Sergeant Kamoru Bakare; Halimat Bamidele and Idris Mohammed, widow and son of the late Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Sanni Fakayode Bamidele(ASP) and Idris Akeju Muhammed(DSP) respectively.
The aggrieved ex-policemen, who were among about 1,000 officers with similar fate, had written several letters to the Police Pension Office, the Human Rights Commission and the National Assembly but their efforts yielded no fruit. They had also participated in a nationwide verification exercise conducted by PTAD last year but nothing came out of it.
Contacted on the plight of the officers, the immediate past Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu, had told The Nation that their issue would be looked into. Ojukwu asked them to forward a letter stating their case to his office, promising prompt action. Interestingly, the aggrieved officers said they could not contact the former police spokesperson before he was moved from the office a few days later.
Uwem said: “We did not contact Ojukwu before he was removed as the spokesperson of Nigeria Police Force. It was shocking that we received notifications of payment of our gratuity and pension a few days later.
“I was surprised to receive an alert from my bank concerning the payment of my gratuity on Wednesday September 9, 2015, while two months pension arrears were also paid two days later. In all, I was paid N1.4 million as gratuity, and N72, 000 as pension for the months of June and July, 2015. The payment came rather late, but I thank God for using your newspaper to publish our plight and the penury which non-payment of our benefits had sentenced us into.
“It was so sad that we had to wait for 10 years to access our pension and gratuity. We deserved to be fairly treated for ensuring the security of lives and property of people during our service years. Instead, we were denied our benefits for no tangible reason, until our story was published.”
Speaking from his base in Akwa Ibom State, one of Uwem’s colleagues, Aniefiok, told our correspondent that he too was shocked to receive his entitlements without any prior notice. The beleaguered retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who had to work as backstreet photographer cum videographer to make ends meet, said: “I was shocked too when my bank sent me notifications about the payment of my gratuity and pension for the months of June and July, 2015. It came just after our story was published in The Nation.
“Although the money is small considering my long years in service, but at all at all na im bad (half a loaf is better than none). At least there is something for us after many years of hopelessness occasioned by non- payment of our benefits.”
Alhaji Sanni, one of the retirees who is currently putting up with one of his children, also said he was shocked to receive his gratuity and pension for June and July, 2015. He expressed gratitude that the money was eventually paid after a long wait. He, however, gave knocks to the pension authorities for short-paying him. According to him, the sum of N1.6 million paid into his account by PTAD was a far cry from his entitlements for the 35 years he spent in service.
On his part, Ishola, 67, said: “I have just been paid. I thank your media organisation for taking up our case. We thought that our sweat for this nation had gone in vain and that we would never be paid our entitlements again until I received credit alert from my bank that my gratuity and two months pension arrears had been paid.”
However, Sergeant Bakare and relatives of the two deceased officers, Bamidele and Mohammed, said they had not been paid at press time. Our findings revealed that they might have been captured under the contributory pension scheme which came into force a few years ago.
A highly placed source at the pension agency, who craved anonymity because he was not permitted to speak in official capacity, explained that “the report on the plight of the officers was very embarrassing to the agency (PTAD), hence, action was expedited to ensure that they were paid their entitlements a few days after the story was published.
“As for those who are left out of the lot, they must have been included in the contributory pension scheme and they would have to wait a while to access their entitlements. The Police Pension Department under PTAD is saddled with the payment of gratuity and pension of police pensioners who retired on or before June 30, 2007, while the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) takes care of the payment of entitlements of retired policemen in the new contributory pension initiative through Pension Fund Administrators.”
New lease of life
The affected officers also disclosed that they would invest their money in profitable ventures that would sustain their lives in retirement. Aniefiok, for instance, said he would use the money to improve his video business and empower his wife in her trade.
“I will first have to pay outstanding bills after which I would use part of the money to expand my business as well as lift my wife’s trade.
“A substantial percentage of the money will also be reserved to take care of the home front, especially the welfare of my children and their studies. For example, one of my children has just travelled back to Egypt and I was able to assist him with some money for his trip.”
For Uwem, who before now had been trapped in Imo State where he last served, owing to lack funds, said: “I will first wait for some time to see the frequency at which subsequent monthly pension would come before considering moving back to my home town in Akwa Ibom. However, I cannot rule out the possibility of using a substantial part of the money to do business for self-sustenance.”
Alhaji Sanni, who is just recuperating from an illness that has kept him out of circulation lately, told our correspondent that he would surely channel his money into a profitable venture.
He said: “I have been down with sickness for some months now, but I am getting better at the moment. Once my health is restored, I shall consider what to do with the money. Since part of it will be used to clear my medical bill, I shall also reserve a substantial part of the money to engage myself in a business that will take care of my family. My only worry is that I don’t know how constantly our pension will be paid.
Ishola, on his part, said: “I am going to invest my money in a profitable business that can sustain me and my family. In view of the ambiguous payment, it would be a misplaced priority on my part if I don’t put part of my money in a business since I don’t know when my next pension would be paid.”
Payment deficit
While the payment might have brought temporary relief to the former officers, it leaves some posers on their minds. They expressed reservation about the correlation between the sums paid and their long years in service..
“If we are to go by our years in service, what we have been paid is nothing to write home about. My colleagues and I spent about 35 years in service to this country, but the sums we got ranged between N1.4 million and N1.6 million, without any explanation from those responsible for the payment of our after-service emoluments.
”Since many of us left service about 10 years ago, we have not been paid a dime as pension. It was thus surprising that PTAD considered us worthy of only two-month pension arrears out of the 10 years. Yet we are not sure of whether the remaining backlogs would be cleared or steadily paid,” said Sanni.
Sanni’s remark was echoed by Ishola, who figured that the payment was haphazardly done to prevent them from making further noise in the media.
He said: “I think that we were hurriedly paid to shut our mouth or prevent us from talking to journalists again. This was obvious in the payment done so far. For example, how on earth can they justify paying us less than N2 million after more than 30 years in service as policemen? How come we were paid just two months pension arrears out of 10 years without any tangible explanation?
“Many of us have been battling with accumulated bills and bad debts. Little will be left of the money by the time we defray our debts and bills. It is in the light of this that we are asking the pension authorities to review the payment and pay us what is commensurate with the 35 years we spent in service as policemen.”
The dispositions of Uwem and Aniefiok were in no way different from those of Sanni and Ishola. The duo carpeted the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) for the payment deficit.
Uwem queried: “As commendable as the payment is after a 10-year wait, the fact that it was done after our story was published in the newspaper has created a moral burden on the Nigerian pension authorities. It is disheartening that the concerned pension agency waited until our story came out in the media before paying our entitlements.
“Moreover, there is deficit in the payment considering the paltry sum that was paid. I am of the conviction that N1.4 million or N1.6 million cannot represent the total value of what we deserve as entitlements. I am also displeased that only two months pension was paid after about 10 years of being denied pension. So, where is the rest of our money?”
Responding via an email forwarded to our correspondent, the spokesman of PTAD, Mr. Ademola Ogundeyi, in one breadth, said the questions raised by the pensioners over the gratuities and pension they were paid was being looked into. He promised to revert to our correspondent once he got information from the relevant department in charge of the matter.
However, in another breadth, Ogundeyi said the agency would not respond to inquires from a third party (our correspondent).
He said: “I have passed this mail (inquires from our correspondent) to the relevant department to look into and will get back to you once I get information on the matter.
“While we appreciate your efforts in getting this situation across to us, we prefer to engage our pensioners directly, for this reason going forward, I will only respond to mail from pensioners directly and not through a third party.”
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