The Bayelsa State Government has frowned against frequent recourse to
protests by various aggrieved groups, but expressed commitment to the
welfare of pensioners in the State.
A statement issued on Monday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor
Henry Seriake Dickson, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said government and
representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Trade Union Congress
of Nigeria (TUC) and other stakeholders have been meeting on the issue of
arrears owed pensioners in the State.
According to him, places very high premium on the payment of pensioners
and was doing that diligently, until the sharp drop in the monthly
revenues accruing to the State from the Federation Accounts Allocation
Committee.
Iworiso-Markson said despite the significant drop in revenue, a committee
of senior citizens in Bayelsan State, has been set up to proffer lasting
solution to the problem of pensioners.
He advised pensioners not to allow themselves to be used by persons, who
do not mean well for them, stressing that, the Government is always open
for dialogue with aggrieved groups, no matter the magnitude of the problem
at stake.
The Bayelsa State Government also condemned in strong terms, rumours that
the State Government has hired thugs to disrupt and beat up a group of
pensioners, who embarked on a peaceful protest to the Government House,
Yenagoa.
Describing the report as totally false and baseless, Iworiso-Markson
stated that, the report was not only a mischievous figment of the
imagination of the writer that was intended to smear the rising profile of
Governor Dickson.
He also blamed the latest protests on some misguided politicians, who were
bent on “rubbishing the laudable achievements of the Governor for what is
clearly their selfish aims.”
The government, he said, will not give in to cheap blackmail, no matter
the persons that are involved.