Non-Payment Of N2.1Bn: NNN Pensioners Take Case To President Buhari
BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Pensioners of the New Nigerian Newspapers, have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene in the payment of N2.1 billion for the payment of the company’s pensioners.
In a letter addressed to President Buhari titled; “Non-payment of N2.1 billion approval for the payment of New Nigerian Newspapers’ pension arrears,” the secretary/legal adviser of the pensioners, Barrister Albert Boss Iweka appealed to President Buhari to as a matter of national importance save the lives of the pensioners and their army of dependents.
The letter reads; “We humbly appeal for your urgent intervention in this matter in order to save the lives of the pensioners and their army of dependents and rid us of abject poverty occasioned by the non – payment of our monthly pension and accrued pension arrears for more than 15 years.”
The pensioners thanked President Buhari for the approval of the sum of N2.1 billion in February 2017 for the payment of pension to the retirees of the New Nigerian Newspapers.
They however lamented saying, “We regret to inform you that up till now, we are yet to receive any payment after the verification of our members by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, (PTAD), in October, 2017.
“The reason for non-payment of the pension is best known to the Federal Ministry of Finance which has bluntly refused to release the fund.
“This is in spite of a subsisting Court judgment delivered on 28th October, 2013 directing the Federal government and the New Nigerian Newspapers to pay the outstanding arrears and monthly pension of the retirees which informed the approval of N2.1 billion by Mr. President.”
