Africa-Press – Nigeria. Non-teaching staff of the University of Cross River State, UNICROSS, under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) have expressed anger over the non-payment of pension arrears to retired colleagues.
The unions, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), and National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT), marched with pensioners from the UNICROSS campus in Calabar South to the Accountant-General’s office in Calabar Municipality, displaying placards and chanting solidarity songs.
During the protest, the pensioners threatened to deposit the corpses of any colleagues who die while awaiting payment of their entitlements at the Accountant-General’s office.
Addressing journalists, Comrade Odong Bassey Ekeh, NASU Chairman and Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, said the workers were forced to take drastic steps to highlight the plight of retirees.
“Our grievance is that a system exists to compute, audit, and pay pensions, yet no payment has been made since June this year,” he lamented.
He went further: “We are not asking for favours; we are demanding our rights.
“The government funds the university and must ensure retirees receive their pensions and gratuities without further delay.”
The protest has renewed calls for urgent government action to safeguard the welfare of retirees in the state.
It will be recalled that the state government had released N10 billion recently to pay defray pensions and gratuities from 2013.
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