Placard-carrying pensioners stormed the office of the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, to protest against unpaid gratuity and pension arrears on Monday.
The pensioners, who arrived the governor’s office around 9am refused to leave despite the Monday rain.
Our correspondent gathered that the protesters consisted mainly of retired teachers and local government staff.
Among their demands was that Lagos State Government should obey the directive of the Federal Government to pay pension increment in 2003 and 2007 to the retirees.
They vowed to paralyse the activities of the government if their demands were not met within two weeks.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the South West chairman of the pensioners, Mr. Nojeemdeen Adebayo, lamented that some of their members had lost their lives because the government denied them of their rights.
He said, “While waiting for their unpaid arrears, some of our colleagues were either hospitalised or dead without collecting their entitlement.
“For over four years now, what we have always heard from the state government is that we should be patient. But we discovered that the patience isn’t yielding the right solution. This was why we decided to protest at the office of the governor, to demand our rights. We are giving the state government two weeks to resolve the unpaid pension and its arrears, and gratuity.”
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, and his counterpart in the ministry of pension and establishment, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase, attended to the protesters on behalf of the governor.
Ibirogba said, “They have presented their grievances and we have assured them that we will be working with their leaders to ensure that they receive all their entitlements.”
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