Stakeholder in the Kwara State Local
Government Pensioners Association have decried the death of pensioners due to
unpaid salaries, describing the trend as sad and unacceptable.
The stakeholders who spoke through the
Chairman of the association, Mr. lsiaka Akanbi, said no fewer than 1,005 of its
members had died since April 2015.
Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the state
capital on Saturday, the chairman urged relevant authorities to urgently effect
the payment of pension arrears to senior citizens.
Akanbi said the victims, who cut across the
16 Local Government Councils of the state, died as a result of their inability
to get adequate health care attention.
“Among them were the state factional Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Sunday Fagbemi; a former PDP governorship
aspirant in the state, Mr. Sunday Babalola; and the President, Afonja
Descendants Union, Mr. Olola Kasum.
No fewer than 3,000 of the pensioners were
unable to buy drugs for their ailments.
“We have suffered unprecedented
discrimination since Ahmed came to power in the state. We are senior citizens
and deserve fair treatment.
The number of our members who have died is the
greatest in comparison with any other sector in the state,” the Chairman said
The governor’s Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, said the governor
was saddened by the plight of the local government pensioners.
While calling on the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government to intervene and assist the local governments to
pay the arrears in order to curtail the spate of untimely deaths in the state,
Akorede blamed the drop in Federation Account allocations for the non-payment
of pensions.
He added that the state government was
considering strategies to assist them within its available resources.
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