The Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Kwara branch, on Friday urged the state government to use the second batch of the Paris Club refund t0 pay the nine months pension arrears.
Alhaji Mohammed Haliru and Mr Samuel lbidoja, the Chairman and Secretary of the union, made the plea in a statement after the first quarterly meeting of the union in Ilorin.
They said that the state government’s indebtedness to retirees in all the 16 local government areas of the state now stands at N5 billion.
According to them, the unpaid pensions and gratuities to pensioners in the state had inflicted untold hardship on their members.
They commended Gov. AbdulFatah Ahmed for his promise during the last Workers Day to use part of the Paris refund to pay the pension arrears.
The duo urged the governor to enhance the living standard of local government pensioners.
The union leaders also decried the planned payment of the monthly pensions to the local government retirees through a consultant, describing it as unconstitutional.
They urged the governor to return the payment to the Local Government Pension Board statutorily empowered by the state Edict Seven of 1989.
