The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called upon Governor Ademola Adeleke to issue an unreserved apology to pensioners in the state for failing to fulfill his campaign promise of clearing the backlog of their contributory pensions within six months of taking office.
According to a statement released by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo, the state capital, it has become evident to both pensioners and civil servants that the Adeleke-led government has not been truthful in its execution of campaign commitments.
The recent announcement that the Adeleke administration has approved the release of bond certificates worth N2.1 billion to settle accrued right benefits for a new batch of retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme has raised eyebrows. The beneficiaries include retired staff from local government areas, local council development areas, area councils, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), secondary schools, tertiary institutions, and parastatals.
The Osun State APC chairman expressed skepticism over the government’s intentions, citing that this marked the second time such a pension bond had been approved within nine months of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) administration. The chairman suggested that Governor Adeleke should provide a breakdown of the allocation figures for primary school teachers, civil servants, retired parastatal employees, and secondary school teachers under the CPS. He implied that the lack of transparency in this regard indicated potential hidden motives.
The chairman criticized the Adeleke administration for its apparent lack of empathy toward pensioners and described its actions as mere motion without progress. The chairman calculated that if N500 million was allocated for the Contributory Pension Scheme every month, over 48 months of Adeleke’s tenure, only N24 billion would be paid, which falls significantly short of the outstanding liabilities at both the state and local government levels.
“For nine months now, Adeleke has been able to pay less than N4bn plus the local government liabilities of the pension. If we divide 48 months by four times, he would only be able to pay N12bn in four years of his tenure.
“The immediate-past Governor Gboyega Oyetola paid the Contributory Pension Scheme of the civil servants, parastatals and secondary school retirees on the CPS from 2016 to April 2018 and paid in full all the retirees on the CPS whose bonds were between N100K and N2m in full till December 2020. In all, despite poor state of finances, the Oyetola administration paid over N40 billion to settle pensions and N97 billion from the state indebtedness.
“Why is it difficult or impossible for Governor Adeleke to paste the names of the beneficiaries of the questionable pension bonds as it was the practice during his predecessor’s tenure if truly he has nothing to hide?
“The retired primary school teachers CPS pensioners are still in 2016. Adeleke should tell the whole world which one he is paying if he has nothing to conceal?
“Now that the local government councils are bouyant, why is Adeleke wasting their funds on phantom contracts instead of releasing chunk funds to these hapless retirees to save their lives and jump-start the economy of the state by releasing their bond certificates as he promised to do within six months in his campaign promise?
“Governor Adeleke should tell the public how many retirees would be paid and what are their names? How many school teachers would benefit and what are their identities?
“What is the meaning of this ‘talk-and-do’ in the face of these malfeasance and man inhumanity to man? What Adeleke is doing to these retirees is a crying scandal.
“Which month is Adeleke paying in the civil service, the parastatals, the secondary school teachers or is he paying only the retirees from Ede?
“Is Governor Adeleke following the register of the pensioners; is it that there is no favouritism in the process that his government.
In conclusion, the Osun APC called for accountability and sincerity from the Adeleke administration, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive and transparent approach to addressing the pension issue and fulfilling campaign promises.