The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has vowed to intensify efforts against delay of gratuity payment to pensioners within the civil service in the country.
This is even as the association elected Comrade Shehu Muhammed as the new national president and Comrade Olubunmi Adebayo Fajobi as the vice president.
In his acceptance speech, the new president called on all members to join hands in moving the union and the country forward. Muhammed further charged the members for unity and collaboration .
Meanwhile, the ASCSN secretary general, Comrade Joshua Apebo, during the Delegates Conference in Lagos on Monday, noted that, though the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his team has been doing much in addressing the needs of the people, he still needs to do more to meet the yearnings of many hungry and angry people across the country.
“The recent nationwide protests in the country showed that the prevailing economic hardship is affecting the broad spectrum of.the people. Although government have been doing their best to address the issue of hunger, poverty, insecurity, they need to do more in the area of providing social amenities such as portable water, affordable housing and medical care, free education, low electricity tariff, affordable food items, etc, because of these are readily available, life will become more meaningful for most people the meagre income at their disposal,” he added.
Moreover Apebo called on the government to always address the concern of pensioners who had served the fatherland.
“The colonial era, gratuities have always been paid to Public Service employees as appreciation for meritorious service rendered to the Nation. However the Pension Reform Act (PRA), 2004 was silent on the of payment of gratuity to workers. Since the Act came into force, Public Service employee in Treasury Funded MDAs, and their counterpart in states that have adopted the new Pension Scheme have not been paid any form of gratuity whereas private sector workers and other non-treasury funded and revenue generating MIDAs such as CBN, NNPC, NCC, NIMASA, NPA etc, have continued to receive gratuity from their employers in spite of the enactme Of the 2004 Pension Reform Act.
We, thercfore, request that gratuity to Public Service employees in Treasury Funded MDAs should be restored without further delay,” he requested.
