Nigerian pensioners menace to go naked on the streets over rising cost of living
The pensioners revealed that some of them get as little as ₦450 stipend every month as a pension.
Disclosing this to journalists at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday, February 9, 2024, NUP National President Godwin Abumusi said the proposed move would help draw global attention to the plight of pensioners in the country.
“I am going to lead Nigerian pensioners naked.
“I mean, when we are going to protest, we are going to go naked on the street so that the world will see the pensioners in Nigeria are demonstrating naked.
“If they like, they will arrest us and say, ‘Why did you go naked on the streets?’" Abumusi stated.
Apart from delays in payment of pensions, which have become commonplace in Nigeria, the pensioners have also complained that their monthly stipends are too meagre to sustain them.
The situation has been compounded by the recent rise in the cost of living triggered by the petrol subsidy removal and floatation of the naira.
In light of this, the NUP President said the plight of pensioners is hard to comprehend.
“In Nigeria, governments don’t think about the poor people. They only think about themselves. Otherwise, how can a pensioner in Enugu receive as low as N450? How can this be?, Abumusi lamented.
The senior citizen, therefore, called for a review of the national minimum pension along with the proposed minimum wage review for workers by the Federal Government.
“We wish to propose the sum of N100,000 as the national minimum pension to the tripartite committee in line with the proposed N200,000 minimum wage by the NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress); as anything short of that will incur the wrath of the pensioners who are hard hit by the prevailing economic hardship,” he added.
