NPA Retirees decry non payment of pension

Secretary, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Retirees Association, Mr Lanre Adisa, yesterday alleged that the ports authority had not paid pensions to those who retired in 2006.
Adisa said the authority had remained adamant, in spite of calls by the affected retirees in the past four years.
He said that though the NPA paid them large sums of money when they were leaving, its refusal to include them in the list of its pensioners was against Federal Government's directive.
Adisa noted that the retirees were among Federal Government workers laid off during the government's rightsizing of its workforce between 2005 and 2007.
He claimed that the government, in a circular dated Aug.3, 2009, directed ministries and parastatal-agencies to put pensionable employees affected by the rightsizing on pensioners' list.
"We are more than 4000 that retired in 2006/2007, but we were not included in the pension scheme of the NPA.
"Are we not Federal Government retirees? Why are we not placed on pension?
"We were deceived and cajoled to fill a form which had two options -- five years pension buyout or immediate placement on pension scheme.
"Over 90 per cent of us opted for five years pension buyout with the belief that it meant a five-year pension upfront payment," Adisa said.
The retiree said NPA had a policy of giving an upfront payment of five years pension to retirees who applied for such, and that such retirees would still be entitled to pension after five years.
However, a source at the NPA told NAN that the retirees signed a pact with the management of the authority to be paid five years severance package as at the time of their disengagement.
The source, who pleaded anonymity said that retirees on NPA's pensioners' list were about 7,000 and that the ex-workers who left with the severance package were about to 9,000.
He said that putting the latter into the NPA's pensioners' list would be burdensome to the authority.
The source added that the NPA currently had a workforce of more than 4,000.