The Adamawa State Pensioners on the Government payroll have demanded a review of their N4,000 monthly pension.
The pensioners’ chairman, Mohammed Sali, while speaking on behalf of the state pensions at the weekend, said the monthly N4,000 is far too unrealistic to continue.
“At present, in Adamawa State, the monthly pension is only N4,000. Relate this to the life we have to live,” Mohammed Sali told newsmen that “Our staple food here is maize. One bag of maize today costs N40,000. Now, what can a pensioner eat? How can he buy medicine?”
While lamenting that what they are being paid cannot meet their needs, he said, “The majority of pensioners live on drugs. Such a need comes with age. The youngest among us is 60 years old. What I expect everyone to appreciate is that after physically challenged people, it should be pensioners. Pensioners also need special care.”
Meanwhile, Sali, who became chairman of the Adamawa Nigeria Union of Pensioners in 2022, could not cite a specific time when the N4,000 monthly pension commenced in the state; he dates it back at least 10 years.
He said, “We have been receiving this N4,000 pension since the government of Murtala Nyako (Governor between 2007 and 2014), and the pension is supposed to be reviewed every five years. When the minimum wage for serving civil servants gets reviewed, pensions remain. That has been the sad norm.”
Calling on the state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, to intervene, Sali said, “Governor Fintiri knows our cry and has promised to look at it. I am using this opportunity to urge him to fulfil the promise.”
