After 30 days of consecutive protests in August 2022, pensioners in Taraba State on Monday again renewed mass protests demanding payment of their entitlements after meritorious service to the state.
Renewal of the protest may not be unconnected with the approval granted by the Taraba State House of Assembly last week Wednesday to Governor Darius Ishaku to obtain another fresh loan amounting to N5.5bn.
The retirees took their protest to the state House of Assembly, Jalingo carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “Pensioners are suffering here in Taraba state due to lack of pension and gratuity”, “Accumulation of Pensions and Gratuity which government will pay?”, Pension is a right and not a privileged, pay us our right”, among others.
However, to compound their plights, the Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Prof. Joseph Albasu Kunini refused to attend to the protesting retirees after waiting patiently for over four hours at the assembly’s gate.
Comrade Silas Jafta, Chairman Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Taraba State chapter who led the protesters decried that despite a series of loans collected by the Taraba State Government from different institutions, federal government bailout, and the Paris club refund, their entitlements have not been settled.
Jafta said they are demanding accountability of all the debt collected by the governor since 2015 to save the future of the state “We are out again to protest for our rights, we want Governor Ishaku to be sensitive and pay us our retirement benefits.
“While we demand that the N5.5bn loan that was approved last week for rural roads completion should be used to begin the payment of our entitlements, we also demand an immediate investigation into all the monies collected by the governor since he has no reasonable project on the ground.
“The governor has collected a lot of loans. He has no project to point at as to what he has used the monies for. He keeps borrowing and Taraba state is gradually becoming the most indebted state in Nigeria but our entitlements are still not considered after retiring for over ten years,” he said.
In their separate reaction, on the N5.5bn loan approved by the state assembly, Governorship candidates of the Labour Party and the APC in the state, Senator Danlami Ikenya, and Senator Emmanuel Bwacha faulted the decision of the state house of assembly, noted that the governor cannot pay back the N5.5bn within remaining seven months of the lifespan of his administration.
They explained that the action of Governor Darius Ishaku is adding more debts to the state upon those already incurred.
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