From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Retired civil servants (pensioners) in Kogi state are in dilemma as government introduces new measures in selecting beneficiaries for payment.
This indication emerged on Wednesday, 6th April (afternoon), when a handful of pensioners reportedly got bank alerts while others’ faith is still hanging as the state government might have run short of funds after paying the civil servants salary last week.
Investigation also revealed that shortage of funds affected pension payment because a good chunk of the money was allegedly diverted for the declaration of the Presidential ambition of the governor last Saturday.
Since this delay, it was alleged that no explanation has come from the Director General (DG), in charge of pension, Mrs. Mariam Ahmed as per what is actually hindering the pension payment.
A visit to her office, at the state secretariat by our reporter was not fruitful, as she was said to be attending a meeting but investigation showed that those that were selected for payment are in gross minority of pension beneficiaries.
The commissioner of finance, Makadam Asiwaju Asiru Idris said when contacted that the nonpayment of pension for the month of March was due to logistics problems of transferring the money from Access Bank to UBA.
With the current situation that payment of pension is no longer tenable, the greater majority of the state pensioners are at a loss about what is happening and when they would be paid.
