Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s administration for celebrating revenue growth while pensioners remain unpaid.
In a statement on his official X handle on Wednesday, Obi described the situation as unjust, stressing that senior citizens who dedicated their most productive years to the nation deserve prompt payment of their pensions and gratuities.
Obi noted reports that pensioners were considering a nationwide protest over arrears, adding that such a development was both troubling and avoidable.
“Just last month, Mr. President announced that Nigeria had reached its revenue target. If that is true, then the moral question is simple: why are our senior citizens, who worked, served, and sacrificed, still owed their rightful pensions and gratuities?” Obi queried.
He insisted that any excess revenue recorded by the federal government should be directed toward settling pension liabilities as a way of restoring the dignity of retirees and reassuring current workers that their service will be valued.
“Revenue growth should first reflect in the lives of the people, especially those in difficult times. The excess revenue we celebrate today must not remain on paper. It must be directed to settle our obligations to pensioners,” Obi said.
He emphasised that good leadership must be inseparable from compassion and warned that ignoring the plight of pensioners was “unjust and unacceptable.”
