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About 9,130 retirees under the Independent Unbonded Contributory Pension Scheme in Osun State have appealed to the state government to release their outstanding retirement benefits without further delay.
The affected retirees, who exited service between 2017 and 2025, include former workers from the state civil service, teaching service, tertiary institutions and local government administration.
They made the appeal on Thursday in Osogbo while addressing journalists during a meeting convened by the group to review the prolonged delay in the payment of their entitlements.
Speaking on behalf of the retirees, the chairman of the scheme, Moses Fayemi, said members had been subjected to severe hardship due to the continued withholding of their retirement bonds.
Fayemi stated that “many retirees who left service as far back as 2017 were yet to receive any form of payment, despite repeated appeals to the authorities.
“A number of our members retired between 2017 and 2025, yet many of us have not received any payment to date. In total, about 9,130 retirees are currently affected by the non-payment of these bonds.”
He described the delay as inexcusable, adding that the group had written several letters to the government but was repeatedly informed that funds were unavailable.
According to him, “the retirees were later told that payment of their bonds would only be possible after the release of local government allocations.
“Unfortunately, we have no clear information on when such allocations will be released.”
He explained that primary school retirees from 2017 to 2025 had not been paid, while payments to secondary school retirees stopped in June 2020.
Fayemi, while disclosing that those who retired from July 2020 to date remained unpaid, noted that a similar situation applied to retirees from the civil service, tertiary institutions and local government system, where payments were only made up to 2022.
“Some of our members who retired as far back as 2017 are now in their ninth year without receiving their rightful entitlements. There is an urgent need for government intervention,” he said.
Reacting to the appeal, Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, said the government attached high priority to the welfare of workers and retirees.
Alimi attributed the delay in releasing retirement bonds to challenges surrounding local government allocations and administration in the state.
“Since February last year, issues relating to local government administration have become a clog in the wheel of progress, affecting governance in the state,” he said.
He explained that the state government was currently funding responsibilities ordinarily covered by local government allocations, including salaries of local government staff, primary and junior secondary school teachers, as well as pensions of local government and primary school retirees.
“As a result, funds meant to be released from local government allocations for retirement bonds have been stalled. We are in court and have taken several steps to resolve the issue,” Alimi said.
He also appealed to retirees for patience and assured them that efforts were ongoing to settle outstanding entitlements.
