Five ex-Heads of Service, 52 Perm Secs to sue Wada over 44 months pension arrears

Five former Heads of Service (HOS) and 52 Permanent Secretaries in Kogi State have threatened to sue the Governor Idris Wada administration to demand for the full payment of their harmonised statutory pensions.
The pensioners, under the aegis of Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries, gave the threat in a letter to Wada.
The letter, signed by the association’s chairman, Mr J.O. Mesole and Secretary, Mr John Ausa, said that the state government had placed them on 50 per cent pension since December, 2011.
The pensioners claimed that they were being owed N11.3 million monthly.
They lamented that nine of their members had died from 2012 to date, partly due to the anomaly, saying that they had reached the limit of their patience.
They said that they would now take legal action to protect their pension rights as enshrined in the constitution.
They alleged that their counterparts, who retired after December, 2011 were receiving their full pension and that the 57 of them, who retired before the 2011 harmonisation, were placed on 50 per cent part-payment.
“Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries are in the management cadre. They are also on consolidated pay (not on salary grade level) and earn 100 per cent of their total emoluments as pension for life.
“For these reasons, their pensions are to be automatically harmonised to be at par with the pay of their serving counterparts with effect from the date there is pay rise for them.
“Their own case of harmonisation is different,” the letter said.
According to them, withholding a pension or part of it violates section 210 (2) of the Constitution which states that a pension shall not be withheld or altered to the disadvantage of a pensioner.
“Asking us to wait until the finances of government would have improved before our request could be granted is as good as saying we should wait indefinitely or that we should forget about the request,’’ they said.
The pensioners, however, said that they were not unaware of the lean financial position of the state and would not ask for payment of arrears from December, 2011 to date.
“All we are requesting is for Your Excellency to kindly approve with effect from July 1, 2015, payment of the fully consolidated and harmonised pension of the five retired HOS and 52 Permanent Secretaries.”
Reacting, Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), acknowledged receipt of two letters from the association and arrears of 50 per cent of their harmonised pension.
Jegede, however, said that the state was going through “a very difficult, excruciatingly painful financial crunch at the moment”.
He urged the pensioners to be patient, cooperate and understand, hoping government finances would improve soon.