NITEL- MTEL pensioners protest 35 months of unpaid benefits

Former staff members of the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary, the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunication (M-tel), stormed the Federal Ministry of Finance on Tuesday morning to protest over unpaid pensions and arrears.

The protesters comprise old people aged 65 to 80 years, the majority of whom also told PREMIUM TIMES that they started working at a young age, 18 and 20, said that after being laid off, 25 years after service, they have not been properly renumerated with their entitlement, both arrears and pension, despite promises.

Led by Okey Ifepe, the protesters converged at the entrance of the ministry at 9 a.m., singing solidarity songs and also calling out Wale Edun, the finance minister, for help.

They were also holding several placards with different inscriptions, such as “Since 2020, pay us our 12.95% adjustment increase.” NITEL?MTEL pensioners are old, weak, and sickly, pay us 35 months pension and areas”, “ES PTAD, AGF, HMF pay us NITEL-MTEL pensioners 35 months pension and areas”, “N25,000 palliative not paid (paid “ Wale Edun pay us our rights

The majority of the protesters who spoke with this newspaper said they could no longer get a job because they had spent their entire life at the company.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a 65-year-old among the protesters, said, “I worked for 25 years, and nothing to show for it, no car, no house, nothing. I spent all my youthful age working for Nigeria, and now that I can not work anymore, I am being denied his benefits

Another protester, Christy Moses, 65, said she started working at 18 but could not afford to take care of her family.

“I lost my grown-up son because I could not pay for his hospital bill when he fell sick. He was in his final year in school when he fell sick for three days, but because I could not pay, he died,” she said.

Sixty-seven-year-old Phenomena Ijeoma added that she has not been able to go for the extensive care needed for her hypertensive illness, which gradually affected her legs and back. Because of this, she is unable to work and has continued to feed on God’s grace.

“Sickness has pushed me to the tight corner that I am unable to produce anything or work, this is the little thing we are expecting, that if they gave us, we will use to move our lives forward, but up till now, nothing,” Mrs Ijeoma lamented

The protesters also stated that they have been writing and sending reports to the authorities multiple times, but have been ignored.

“We have written and written, but nothing has been done. We have written letters to the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate PTAD in which they referred us back to the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry also referred us back to PTAD. That has been going on for a while now, but we are tired,” another protester, Olayinka Makinwa, added.

The leader of the protest, Mr Ifepe, stated that every other defunct agency under the same Defined Benefits Scheme, including New Nigerian Newspapers, NICON Insurance, Nigeria Reinsurance, Delta Steel, and NNSL, has been fully settled. Only NITEL–MTEL pensioners remain unpaid.

The laid-off pensioners of NITEL-MTEL have not received their pensions for 35 months in arrears. They were excluded from the N32,000 pension increase, as well as outstanding arrears of 12.95 per cent (2020) and 10.66 per cent (2015) pension increases. Release of N 25,000 palliative, verified death benefits and pending payroll.

“We are not asking for favours. We are demanding what is rightfully ours,” said a spokesperson for the pensioners. “Every day you delay, a pensioner dies quietly. Every month you postpone justice, a widow sleeps hungry.”

“We also lost two members. One died yesterday, and the other one died last Friday.

“So we ask today, in the name of justice and humanity, what is our crime? Why should those who served this nation be treated with so much cruelty? Many pensioners sleep on church benches. Many depend on neighbours to eat. Widows cry at night because there is no money for medicine or food. This is not statistics, this is suffering. This is death,” he added.

NITEL-MTEL

NITEL-MTEL was a Nigerian former Telecommunications company that provided public telecommunication services in Nigeria, including telephone, telex, telegram, fax, and satellite services.

After its privatisation, the brand was relaunched as ntel, a mobile network operator focusing on modern mobile and internet services, such as 4G LTE and Wi-Fi.

According to reports, in 2006, NITEL staff were laid off when the company was privatised and restructured by Transcorp, with approximately 7,000 out of 11,000 staff members disengaged.

The Nigerian government had privatised NITEL due to inefficiency, mismanagement, and huge debts. The layoffs were part of Transcorp’s efforts to streamline the company and reduce its wage bill, but the process was controversial, with many workers not receiving immediate severance packages.

Protesters demands

Protesters are demanding payment of 35 months of pensions and an increment of pension to N32,000 monthly.

According to Mr Ifepe, the president approved the increment, but they have been excluded from the benefits.

“When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the ₦32,000 increase for all DBS pensioners, it was meant to be a humanitarian relief, not selective, not discriminatory. Other pensioners received it. NITEL–MTEL pensioners did not.”

“How can anyone survive on ₦14,500, ₦16,000, or ₦17,000 a month?. How can a widow eating once a day be told she “does not qualify” for a relief meant for all?. How can the poorest pensioners be the only ones denied the relief?”

“This is not fairness. This is not justice. This is deliberate neglect, and it is killing our people. Look at these faces. These are fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, people who kept Nigeria functioning long before the oil boom, long before digital technology.”

“We are old. We are tired. We are suffering. All we ask is to live the rest of our lives with dignity. Do not let hunger and sickness push us to early graves. Do not let the only thing left for you to pay be burial benefits.”

“Some of our colleagues never made it home. Some were electrocuted high up on cables. Others breathed their last in underground ducts and chambers, places most Nigerians will never see, but where we worked daily with courage. We served Nigeria with loyalty. We deserve to be treated with dignity.” He said.

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Official response

Addressing all the protesters, the Special Adviser (SA) to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Sheu Garbar, stated that none of his principal officers, who were meant to address the demonstrators, were present at the time.

“Address all the complaints, demands, grievances, and when you come, get your leaders three or four people who will represent, and I will arrange a meeting with the permanent secretary so that you can discuss, let them see what is on board and how it’s going to be resolved, and this is a way forward.”

However, Mr Okey told PREMIUM TIMES that he does not have hope in such promises as they have proven futile in the past.

“I don’t have hope in this, because it is not new, we are dying, but every day this is what they tell us,” he concluded.