As the retired staff of the National Examinations Council (NECO) inaugurated the body yesterday in Minna, they requested the council to pay all outstanding benefits owed to some of their members.
The association’s president, Dr Abdullahi Rotimi Williams, made the request while speaking after the association’s inauguration at the NECO headquarters in Minna.
While relishing their experiences during the birth of the only government-funded examination body, he decried the situation in which life after retirement has become very scary for workers because of the attendant hardship associated with it.
Dr Williams posited that the prospect for workers after retirement was scary because of the numerous post-retirement challenges, chiefly due to the difficulty in accessing benefits accruing to retirees.
According to him, “Many are afraid to go on retirement. So, with the creation of an association like this, we encourage each other to surmount the post-retirement challenges. The major challenge retirees face is health, which is number one wealth.”
He therefore appealed to the registrar, Professor Darwen Ibrahim Wushishi, to establish a mechanism to prepare NECO staff for retirement and ensure prompt payment of their benefits.
Dr Williams listed some outstanding benefits, including travel and promotion allowances that were not paid before the staff retired.
Earlier, the council’s registrar, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, represented by Mr Suleiman Adegboke, director of examination administration, declared the occasion opened and promised to investigate some of their challenges.
The chairman of the association’s Board of Trustees, Mr Emmanuel Duru Philip, noted that the association aimed to serve as a pressure group working for the interests of the council’s retired staff.
