The Coalition of Federal Pensioners of Nigeria has introduced plans for a nationwide protest on Dec. 8, saying the demonstration is meant to attract consideration to the federal authorities’s failure to launch long-delayed pension increments and palliative allowances owed to its members.
In a press release issued Friday in Lagos, Mukaila Ogunbote, the coalition’s nationwide chairman and head of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners’ NIPOST chapter, mentioned the group had exhausted standard channels of engagement with authorities ministries and was now turning to public motion to press its case.
The protest, he mentioned, would proceed except the federal government releases arrears tied to a N32,000 pension enhance and a N25,000 palliative allowance permitted in 2023.
In line with Ogunbote, pensioners have grown more and more annoyed with what they view as extended inaction by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Workplace of the Accountant Basic.
“These establishments aren’t taking us significantly,” he mentioned, urging retirees throughout the nation to take part within the demonstrations. The coalition maintains that lots of its members, some aged and in susceptible well being, have been left in {financial} misery on account of the delayed funds.
The deliberate protest is predicted to happen in Abuja, Lagos and state capitals nationwide. Demonstrations will probably be held in entrance of the Pension Transitional Association Directorate (PTAD) places of work, which oversee federal pension administration, in addition to at a number of Nigeria Tv Authority (NTA) stations. The coalition mentioned these areas have been chosen to make sure visibility and to spotlight what it considers a scarcity of accountability within the pension system.
Ogunbote known as on state chapter leaders and affiliated unions to totally mobilize their members, emphasizing the necessity for a unified nationwide show of dissatisfaction. He mentioned the coalition’s message is meant to present the {economic} hardship confronted by retirees and the urgency of the federal government’s intervention.
“We should present the wound that our garments are protecting,” he mentioned, invoking a metaphor meant to convey the depth of the pensioners’ struggles.
He added that the demonstrations would proceed till retirees obtain alerts confirming the fee of the excellent allowances. Pensioners who could also be unable to journey lengthy distances, he recommended, ought to come ready to stay on the protest websites for prolonged intervals.
The coalition’s grievances come in opposition to the backdrop of latest steps by the federal government to enhance pension administration. In September, Nairametrics reported that PTAD had begun implementing new pension increments for retirees beneath the Outlined Profit Scheme following the federal authorities’s partial launch of N20.188 billion.
The adjustment included a flat-rate addition of N32,000 and proportion will increase of 10.66 p.c and 12.95%, reflecting within the September 2025 payroll cycle. PTAD mentioned the revisions adopted President Bola Tinubu’s approval of an emergency price range allocation to assist up to date pension charges.
In a separate improvement reported in November, the Nationwide Pension Fee (PenCom) disclosed that greater than 552,000 retirees beneath the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) at the moment are receiving common month-to-month funds.
PenCom additionally introduced that whole pension belongings have surpassed N25 trillion, displaying each the dimensions of Nigeria’s retirement system and its rising position in nationwide {financial} planning. The Fee’s director-general, Omolola Oloworaran, shared the replace throughout a sensitization workshop in Yola targeted on educating staff and pensioners within the North-East.