By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
PENSIONERS IN Benue State have announced plans for street protests after enduring 96 months of unpaid pension arrears.
The resolution was taken under the Benue Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (BCNUP).
They submitted a notification letter to the state government detailing their grievances and setting a January 21 deadline for arrears clearance before embarking on a peaceful protest.
In the letter, signed by NUP Chairman Michael Vembe and Secretary Saater Bur, it was forwarded to Governor Hyacinth Alia and made available to journalists on Monday.
The noted that their arrears include pensions and gratuities inherited from the previous administration, totalling 96 months for Local Government pensioners and 42 months for state pensioners.
Also, the pensioners noted that the governor directed the payment of five months’ arrears to all pensioners, but only state pensioners received the payment.
“We demand that Local Government pensioners should be paid the five months’ arrears as has been paid to state pensioners without delay,” the letter stated.
The union further called for harmonisation of pensions in the state as directed by the Federal Government. They specified that the minimum pension rate should be N32,000, in accordance with the Minimum Wage Act 2024.
All the pensioners further highlighted disparities, stating that some retirees receive as low as N2,000 monthly, while some retired Permanent Secretaries in the state receive N7,000, compared with over N300,000 for their counterparts in other regions.
“In compliance with the resolution of the Benue State Council of the NUP, it has become inevitable to hereby state categorically that, if by the 21st of January 2026, our demands are not met, we shall have no choice but to mobilize all pensioners including those in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state to Makurdi for a two days peaceful protest,” the letter added.
