Worried by the high cost of living occasioned by arbitrary hike in cost of food items and drugs, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Rivers State Council has appealed to the state governor, Siminialayi Fubara to include them in the N10, 000 Christmas bonus being given to the state civil servants.
Speaking in a release by the state executive members of the NUP on Saturday and made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt, the pensioners pointed out that the reality f the current economic crisis brought about their plight.
Rivers state chairman of the NUP, Mr. Collins Nwankwo, and Secretary, Joseph Agbo, in the statement, lamented that pensioners were unable to access quality health services to buy drugs and food because of their insufficient pension.
They further appealed to Governor Fubara to graciously consider their plight and include pensioners of the state for the payment of the recently approved N100, 000 each to civil servants explaining that they buy from the same market.
“We the executive members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Rivers State Council congratulate Your Excellency, the Governor for the Christmas bonus of N100, 000 to each of the civil servants in Rivers state. We say thank you.
“We, however, plead with you to graciously consider the plight of pensioners of this state. The cost of living is very high and we buy from the same market,” they stated.
The union, in anticipation, prayed to God Almighty to bless Governor Siminialayi Fubara and his family for, “considering the plight of pensioners in the state.”
