Pensioners: Fuel Price Increase Is Causing Unbearable Pains

Nigerian pensioners, represented by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), have voiced their anger and frustration over the recent fuel price hike, stating that it has caused significant hardship for them and other vulnerable citizens.

Recall that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had recently adjusted the pump price of fuel from N617 to N897 per litre depending on the location, a development that has been strongly criticised by many citizens.

Reacting to the increment, National President of NUP, Comrade Godwin Abumisi said pensioners and other vulnerable groups in Nigeria are worse hit by the subsidy removal which has resulted to hyperinflation, characterized by astronomical rise in the prices of goods and services which has negatively affected every strata of our lives.

He said regrettably, poor Nigerians and pensioners alike who are always at the receiving end of every obnoxious and insensitive policy of Federal Government are yet to recover from the last hike in PMS which gave birth to the “End Bad Governance” protest across the country just a few months ago.

According to the NUP executive, as if oblivious of the resultant consequences of the protests, the Federal Government defiantly went ahead to increase fuel price of PMS to further impoverish, pauperize and choke the Nigerian masses in a manner capable of sending them to their early graves.

“As far as the NUP is concerned, this is the height of government insensitivity and lawlessness which might result to unimaginable grave consequences, as Nigerians cannot afford to be beggers in their own oil-rich country.

“The essence of this press release is to remind His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the devastating conditions of Nigerian pensioners who are groaning and wallowing in abject poverty, worsened by the avoidable incessant fuel increase that have rendered their paltry monthly pensions useless.

“Pensioners have no one in government to speak for them, and the only voice they have which is the NUP is often neglected by the authority that be. And as we all know, a dog that can only bark but cannot bite is usually ignored/overlooked. To crown it all, Nigerians and pensioners alike are daily crying to high heavens to free them from this enslavement and exploitation in their own country. Our patience is overtaxed.

“The most unfortunate and the ‘unkindest cut’ of it all, and a case in point is the failure of the Federal Government to honour and fulfil its promise of the much-touted N25,000 palliatives to pensioners alongside the six (6) months wage award to both workers/pensioners which to the best of our knowledge had been overlooked and forgotten.

“In another development, and in line with the current economic situations we find ourselves, we wish to humbly suggest that the Federal and State Governments should consider using the new minimum wage of N70,000 as a basic or template to recompute pension emoluments. That is to say if the minimum wage for the workers is increased by 110%, the same rate of increment should be used to adjust pensions, as it is an incontrovertible fact that all categories of wage earners are in the same ship navigating stormy waters.

“Therefore, given the present economic quagmire we find ourselves, it will be discriminatory to approve 110% for workers and give the pensioners less in the same economy. This argument can be logically buttressed by the simple fact that, if the idea for the minimum wage is to enable workers meet up with the ever-increasing cost of living and cushion the effects of hyperinflation, then the pensioners should get it too, as they are also affected by the vagaries of economic hardship.”