By Damilola Omosebi
The air hangs thick, not just with Lagos’ humidity, but with the palpable despair of betrayal. It’s a despair etched onto the faces of Nigeria’s federal pensioners – men and women who built ministries, taught generations, healed the sick, and kept the machinery of state grinding. In 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, acknowledging their plight and the biting cost-of-living crisis, issued a directive: a ₦32,000 monthly increment for all federal pensioners. It was meant to be a lifeline, a small but crucial recognition of dignity eroded by inflation. Today, that lifeline is a cruel mirage. Where is the money?
The sheer, bewildering wickedness of this situation defies comprehension. How does a nation consciously starve its elders? How does a presidential decree, announced with fanfare, dissolve into bureaucratic quicksand, leaving those who can least afford it gasping? The directive was clear. The need was urgent. The implementation? A chilling void of silence and inaction.
Tinubu’s Directive: A Promise Unfulfilled
Recall the context: Rising fuel prices, soaring food costs, a national wince of economic pain. Amidst this, in late 2023, President Tinubu authorized a ₦35,000 wage award for federal workers and a ₦32,000 increment for federal pensioners. This wasn’t presented as a suggestion; it was a directive. Government pronouncements, including those from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), explicitly confirmed this pensioner-specific increase. It was hailed as a necessary palliative, a tangible step to cushion the blow for those on fixed, often meagre, incomes.
The Sinister Silence: Where is the ₦32,000?
Fast forward to July 2025. The stark reality is this: The vast majority of federal pensioners have not received a single kobo of this mandated ₦32,000 monthly increment. Not in January, not in February, not in the scorching heat of July. The silence from the agencies tasked with disbursement – primarily the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), working with the OAGF and Ministry of Finance – is deafening. It’s a silence that screams of indifference, incompetence, or something far more sinister: calculated wickedness.
- PTAD’s Opaque Walls: Inquiries meet with bureaucratic stonewalling. Standard responses cite “processes,” “verification,” or simply refer reporters to higher authorities. Where is the transparency? Where is the urgency demanded by the President and dictated by the sheer humanitarian crisis unfolding?
- PENCOM & Finance Ministry: Missing in Action? The collaborative nature of pension disbursement raises critical questions. Has the Ministry of Finance released the specific funds earmarked for this increment? Is PENCOM ensuring compliance from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) regarding those under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS)? The lack of clear, proactive communication from these bodies is damning.
- The OAGF’s Shadow: As the central payer, the Office of the Accountant General is pivotal. Where is the proof that this specific ₦32,000 per pensioner line item is being processed and released? Their public pronouncements confirming the directive now ring hollow against the sustained non-payment.
The Human Cost: A Litany of Suffering
This isn’t just about missing money; it’s about stolen dignity, extinguished hope, and lives hanging by a thread. Investigate any gathering of pensioners, and the stories are heart-shattering:
- Madam Bola (78), Retired Teacher (Lagos): “They announced it on the radio. We rejoiced! ₦32,000! It meant medicine for my arthritis, maybe meat in the soup twice a month. Now? Nothing. I beg my children, who are also struggling. Tinubu said it, but who is disobeying him? Are they waiting for us to die?”
- Pa Adekunle (82), Ex-Civil Servant (Abuja): “I served for 35 years. Now, my pension barely buys garri. That ₦32,000 was hope. Now, hope is dead. I see the announcement in the old newspapers and cry. Is it wickedness? Is it a game? Why promise what you won’t give?”
- **The Silent Exodus: Pensioner advocacy groups whisper of deaths accelerated by stress, malnutrition, and the inability to afford basic healthcare – deaths directly linked to the anxiety and deprivation caused by this withheld increment. How many more must perish before this becomes a national scandal demanding justice?
The Stench of Wickedness:
The refusal – or abject failure – to implement this presidential directive reeks of a profound moral bankruptcy. Consider the implications:
- Contempt for the Presidency: If a clear, public directive from the Commander-in-Chief can be so blatantly ignored or bungled by agencies under his purview, what does it say about the state of governance? Who wields the real power?
- Contempt for the Elderly: It signals that the lives and well-being of Nigeria’s elders are worthless in the eyes of those holding the purse strings. It is societal sin.
- Institutional Cruelty: The bureaucratic inertia, the lack of explanation, the absence of accountability – this isn’t mere inefficiency; it’s institutionalized cruelty. It’s watching people drown and refusing to throw the lifebuard already approved.
- Theft by Omission: While not cash physically stolen, withholding this legally mandated increase constitutes a deprivation. Pensioners are being robbed of what was decreed as their due.
Demanding Answers, Demanding Action:
This scandal cannot be buried under bureaucratic jargon. We demand:
- Immediate Disbursement: A clear, public timeline from PTAD, PENCOM, OAGF, and Finance for the immediate payment of ALL outstanding ₦32,000 monthly increments, backdated to when the directive took effect.
- Full Accountability: A transparent investigation commissioned by the Presidency: Who failed? Why? Who is responsible for this catastrophic delay? Names and positions must be made public.
- Presidential Intervention: President Tinubu must go beyond the initial directive. He must personally intervene, demand answers on national television, and ensure his order is enforced. His legacy is being tarnished by the inaction of his appointees.
- Compensation for Suffering: Consideration for additional compensation for the immense hardship and suffering caused by this unconscionable delay.
A Nation’s Soul in the Balance
The treatment of pensioners is the litmus test of a nation’s conscience. Nigeria is failing spectacularly. The ₦32,000 increment is more than money; it’s a symbol of a broken covenant between the state and its citizens who served faithfully. The wickedness lies not just in the poverty imposed, but in the hope offered and then cruelly snatched away by unseen hands within the very system meant to protect them.
President Tinubu spoke. The pensioners heard. The bureaucrats, it seems, turned a deaf ear. This is more than an administrative failure; it’s a profound moral failing, a stain on the nation. How long will Nigeria crucify its elders on the cross of bureaucratic wickedness? The world is watching. History is recording. And the ghosts of those who succumbed waiting for their due will demand answers we seem too callous to provide. Where is the money?
