Pensioners who retired between 2010 and 2015 at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, have appealed to the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, to address to the discrepancies in the payment of their monthly pension and gratuities
The pensioners under the aegis of Retirees Forum (2010-2015) Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, made this appeal on Thursday, while briefing newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Addressing newsmen on behalf of the Forum, Junaid Adeniyi, said their retirement benefits were wrongly computed using the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS terminal salary) instead of CONTISS, a situation which he noted has led to reduced payment of members’ monthly pensions and gratuities.
He explained that the press conference had become imperative after their efforts to persuade the state government to correct the discrepancy failed.
Junaid disclosed that immediately the Forum noticed the wrong computation, they approached the Bureau of State Pension and necessary adjustments were done after the intervention of the Ogun State Assembly.
He, however, said it was a thing of surprise that over two years the file on the correction of the discrepancy had been forwarded by the Bureau to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) en route to the governor, nothing has been done to address their plight.
Junaid added that he had led the Forum to the Office of the SSG four times to inquire about the development, but their efforts met with a brick wall.
“Initially, the SSG said his office could not trace our file and asked us to go back to the Bureau of State Pension to prepare another file. The Bureau prepared another file and resend it to the Office of the SSG. In order to avoid the file being claimed to be lost again, the Bureau gave us the file with a number BSP/600 and titled ‘Re-Computation of Gratuity from CONTISS to CONHESS OOUTH’, to track it.
“But since another file has been sent to the office of the SSG en route to the Governor in 2023, nothing has been done. We accosted the governor at an event held at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, and we told him about our plight, he declared that no file could stay on his table for more than two weeks without being attended to. He, therefore, urged us to go back to the SSG.
“We even took our case to the then Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice and the current Head of Service in the state, yet, nothing was done.
“We are compelled to take this route and have this press conference because we have tried all efforts to call on the government to address the issue, but no positive results were achieved.
“70 of us started this struggle and 11.have died in the process. We passionately appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun to look into our matter so that all the retirees that had been shortchanged in the monthly pensions and gratuities will heave a sigh of relief.
“In the whole of Ogun State, it is our own group of pensioners that the government used two different schemes of service to compute our pensions and gratuities. The shortfall in the payment is about N200m. We appeal to our humane and compassionate governor to treat our file and approve the correction of anomalies in our monthly pensions and gratuities”. Junaid submitted.
