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By Wole Mosadomi, Minna
Pensioners in Niger State went wild yesterday, as they stormed the Government House, Minna over their unpaid gratuities running into seven years.
The pensioners in the process disrupted the swearing-in of chairmen of the 25 local government areas in the state as they barricaded the main entrance to the Government House and prevented people, including the staff, from going in and out.
The pensioners, who stormed the Government House with their mats, pillows, buckets and other personal belongings, vowed not to vacate the premises until they were settled.
Most of the protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as ”Pay us our pension and other entitlements now and not later”, “We have worked meritoriously for this state and we need to be treated with respect” and “We are dying, so pay us immediately.”
The All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Umar Bago, was among some of the dignitaries trapped outside the gate as he was also initially blocked from gaining entrance to the Government House.
Bago, who summoned up the courage to address the pensioners, promised to give them priority by settling their arrears if elected as the next governor.
He promised to give them an audience shortly after the swearing-in ceremony to proffer a lasting solution to their plights.
He was later allowed into the Government House as the protest continued at the gate.
One of the pensioners, Abubakar Abdullahi, who addressed journalists at the gate, accused the state government of insensitivity to their plight.
He said: “This government is wicked and very insensitive to our plights. How can you owe people for seven years and still be pretending as if nothing is happening? All he does is to travel across the country in private jets while we are wallowing in abject poverty and suffering at home.
“The Federal Government released Paris funds and other funds to this state but we can’t see anything that was done with the money neither did they pay part of the backlog of our pensions and gratuities.”
Abdullahi lamented that some of their colleagues had died prematurely for lack of money to go for medical treatments and even feed themselves and their immediate family members.
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