Retirees of the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, have appealed to Governor Uba Sani to pay their unpaid retirement benefits.

The retirees made the call in a letter to the governor, signed by the chairman and secretary of the Retirees Forum, Bulus Kajang and Emmanuel Nkom.

In the letter made public on Monday, the retirees said the nonpayment of their accrued retirement benefits for over seven years had brought them untold hardship.

They said the challenge of accumulated utility bills, medical bills, and school fees, among others, was a major source of worry and despair. They added that some retirees had been sent to their graves too early while those still alive were forced to beg to survive.

They said this was happening despite what they described as the ‘gold’ they had saved through 35 years of meritorious service to the Kaduna government.

“The charity givers we were forced to live on are now tired of us,” they said.

The retirees attributed the delay in payment to the non-remittance of their benefits to their pension administrators. This, according to them, has affected the pension administrators to pay them their gratuities and place them on monthly pension payroll.

“All efforts to address the problem by the immediate past administration of Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i proved futile. We are hopeful that Governor Sani would intervene and save us from the dehumanising and devastating situation the nonpayment of our entitlements has put us through,” they said.

(NAN)