The National Vice President (South-West), National Union of Pensioners (NUP), Alhaji Lateef Adegoke yesterday called for the establishment of Federal Ministry of Pension Affairs with a view to resolve the issue of non-payment of pensions as well as mismanagement of pension funds by some officials charged with the administration of such in Nigeria.

Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, Oyo State on the plight of pensioners in the state and across the country in general, he said creation of such ministry at the federal level would alleviate the sufferings of pensioners in the country.

He disclosed that some of the pensioners have lost their lives due to financial challenges occasioned by non-payment of their pensions or late payment of their pensions.

The NUP leader explained that the new ministry being called for by the pensioners should be made up of honest Nigerians who have fears of God and who are ready to comply with President Muhammadu Buhari government's non tolerance for corruption.

"The national executive of NUP, in our congratulatory letter to President Muhammadu Buhari,enumerated some suggestions to him on how to stop the current hardships being faced by pensioners across the country.

“Among our suggestions is the call for creation of Federal Ministry of Pension Affairs. The ministry should be made up of honest officials who share from the no corruption principle of President Muhammadu Buhari's regime .The Ministry should also be set up in conjunction with the National Union of Pensioners," he declared.

The union leader acknowledged efforts put in place by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo 's regime in reducing pensioners' hardships, culminating in the establishment of such bodies as PENCOM, maintaining however that some government officials still abused the good intentions of the regime to subject pensioners to hardships and sufferings.

He consequently advocated life imprisonment for anybody who embezzles or mismanages pensions, stressing such legislation would deter those who are in the habit of mismanaging pensions and subjecting pensioners to untold hardships and untimely death.

Adegoke who was a two term NUP Oyo State chairman, particularly bemoaned the current situation in Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States where pensioners were being owned between three and eight months pension arrears, pleading with the affected governments to pay up the pensions and save the pensioners from unnecessary humiliation, sufferings and untimely deaths.

"I am using this period of Moslem Ramadan fast to plead with the states owing pensioners, particularly, Oyo (4 months), Osun (8 months), Ekiti (3 months) and Ondo (3 months),to please settle the arrears of the pension. The pensions should not, in the first instance, be allowed to fall into arrears. It is act of cruelty to subject our senior citizens to non payment of their pensions on time.

It would be recalled that members of Oyo State council of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), a fortnight ago, staged a peaceful protest in Ibadan over their unpaid pension and its arrears.

The pensioners who later met the state deputy governor, Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo, declared that non-payment of the arrears had subjected them to serious hardships while some of them had died due to non-availability of fund to take care of them.