Press Releases

Fashola Pays N5B Pension Arrears, Urges Teachers To Return To Work

Feb 26, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday brought succour to thousands of teaching, non-teaching primary school and local government retirees as their outstanding arrears of N5 Billion was paid to them with the Governor imploring striking teachers in the State to put their patriotism above their legitimate aspirations and return to work.

Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja venue of the presentation of cheques for outstanding gratuities and pension arrears to 5, 575 Local Government, teaching and non-teaching primary school retirees in the State, also reiterated his administration’s commitment to paying the pensions of retirees promptly.

Pleading with the striking teachers who began an indefinite strike on Wednesday to reconsider their stand in the interest of the children, Governor Fashola declared, “The interest of our children must count for something with them. I urge them to demonstrate now that they are caring parents for the sake of these children and their future”, adding that Education could not be qualitative in a season of frequent strikes.

“The private sector is retrenching. We cannot afford to do that. We remain committed to finding solutions out of these challenging times”, the Governor said stressing that there is need for the people to exercise patience and understanding with the Government as it strives to balance competing interests within the context of limited resources.

He pointed out that the population of Lagos State which, according to him, was 2.5 million in 1975 has grown to 18 million in 2008 and is estimated to hit 25 million by 2015, adding that except new investments were made now on existing infrastructure, life would become unbearable in the future as the infrastructure would collapse under severe pressure.

“Our growing population cannot be sustained by schools, roads, hospitals, markets and houses built 30 years ago. Life would become unbearable in the long run no matter how much we earn if we do not invest in new schools, new hospitals, new roads, water projects and so on now”, Governor Fashola said, and pleaded, “As we strive to do this, I call for patience and understanding as well as faith in our administration to pursue the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people at all times”.

The Governor paid tribute to the retirees for their patience and understanding in bearing with the State Government since 1993 saying, “The payment of these outstanding gratuities and pension arrears is consistent with our administration’s determination to use every policy and programme as a weapon to fight poverty”.

“We believe strongly that the defining essence of poverty is not only the lack of money, food, shelter and other basic needs of life but the indignity caused by the inability to provide these key values on a sustainable basis. Our administration is, therefore, committed to seizing every opportunity to empower our people to live with honour and dignity”, Governor Fashola said.

The Governor stressed that issues of poverty and welfare of public servants are not necessarily best addressed by increase in wages alone but by the implementation of policies that raise the over all quality of living in a given society.

“This is particularly important when we realize that wages will one day come to an end and retirement will come. The critical thing then is to create a minimum standard of living that no member of society, wage earner and non-wage earner, will fall below”, he said.

Urging everyone to be ready to make sacrifices, Governor Fashola declared, “We must be willing to make sacrifices so that more members of the society can benefit from our collective resources. This is the only way that we can save the jobs of those working while creating new opportunities for others to work and live with dignity”.

The Governor who acknowledged that society is confronted by diverse problems, however, pointed out, “Each of us naturally focuses on those that affect us directly. Thus the refuse collector, transporter, teacher, health worker, engineer, lawyer, market woman or civil servant will understandably tend to perceive issues from the perspective that affects each category directly”.

“While we understand and empathize with each segment of society, as an administration, we also have the opportunity to see the over all picture and the responsibility to balance competing interests within the context of limited resources”, the Governor said.

Congratulating the pensioners for the occasion, Governor Fashola pledged, “The welfare of every member of the society shall continue to be the over-riding concern of our administration”, adding, “Our administration appreciates the contribution of these patriots to our common wealth and we are demonstrating to those in active service today that there will be succour and care for them when they retire”.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Chairman of the Association of State Government Retirees, Mr. Olu Ajayi thanked Governor Fashola and his administration for coming to their rescue saying his association had resisted pressures and temptation in the past to take to the streets to protest the non-payment of the arrears.

Ajayi, who described Governor Fashola as a listening Governor said his association resisted such pressures because of their realization of the consequences of such distraction to the government, adding, “Our Governor is a listening governor. He realizes that we are old”.

The Chairman, however, pleaded with Governor Fashola to raise the payment to 42 per cent as obtained at the Federal level and also to grant the retirees some welfare packages that would include free healthcare services and others.

A total of 5, 575 Local Government as well as teaching and non-teaching retirees of primary schools in the State benefited from the State Government’s gesture.

The impressive and well attended event which witnessed intermittent outbursts of songs of gratitude and prayers for Governor Fashola, had in attendance the Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan, members of the State Executive Council, Local Government Chairmen and the Executive Secretary, Local Government Staff Pension Board, Mrs. R.I. Obasa, among others.