Unpaid gratuities: Crisis brews as Ogun pensioners declare three-day fast, plan protest

Retired local government workers and primary school teachers in Ogun State have declared a three-day fast and vowed to stage a protest against the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, for his alleged refusal to pay their gratuities.

Members of the Local Government Pensioners Association specifically said they would march to the Governor’s Office after the fast, which started on Friday, with their mats and turn the place to their homes. They vowed not to leave the governor’s office until their gratuities are paid.

The state Chairman of LOGPAN, Sikiru Ayilara, on Thursday, while speaking at a press briefing in Abeokuta, said they were tired of writing letters to the governor after they had written 12 without any response.

Ayilara said the pensioners’ lives were at stake due to the non-payment of their gratuities, saying that by estimation, the quarterly payment of N500m by the governor would take 34 years to clear all the gratuities.

He said, “We are subjecting ourselves to three days fast and prayer so that we shall call on God to be on our side.

“We are not going to give him (Abiodun) any notice again. He will see us with our mats and clothes. We will go to his office; let him kill us there. After all, many of us are dying silently.”

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications, Remmy Hazzan, debunked the claim that the pensioners’ letters had got no response.

However, he said the government would continue to engage the pensioners, adding that present economic realities were responsible for the payment of N500m monthly to clear the backlog of gratuities. Punch