NITEL-MTEL Pensioners Demand 35 Months Arrears

Retired employees from the defunct NITEL-MTEL under the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) yesterday demanded payment of 35 months of pension arrears.

Organised under the Progressive NITEL-MTEL Pensioners Forum, the retirees also lamented prolonged neglect and exclusion from critical federal pension entitlements.

The group, at a briefing in Abuja, said NITEL-MTEL pensioners are the only class of retirees from defunct federal agencies yet to be paid their outstanding entitlements.

They cited comparative figures showing that other defunct agencies such as the New Nigerian Newspapers (219 months paid), Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation (136 months paid) and NICON Insurance (100 months paid), have all received full payment.

The pensioners say they have also been unjustly excluded from key federal pension benefits, including; the N32,000 monthly pension increase approved by President Bola Tinubu for all DBS pensioners, the 20 percent and 28 percent consequential pension adjustments linked to the 2019 minimum wage review.

They also decried exclusion from a balance of 32 months from the 12.95 percent pension adjustment, which other DBS pensioners received.

Comrade Auston Ifedinezi, who spoke on behalf of the group said, “This level of exclusion and neglect is unjust, inhumane and a clear violation of the principle of equal treatment under the same pension system, we are not asking for charity, we are demanding our lawful rights as senior citizens who served Nigeria faithfully.

Many of our members are elderly, ailing or deceased, yet their next of kin remain unpaid.”

The pensioners called on President Tinubu to intervene directly, urging the Ministry of Finance, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), National Assembly and other relevant agencies to harmonise and fast-track their entitlements.