Angry Retirees Disrupt Okowa’s GEST Empowerment Programme

The Concerned Delta State Local Government Primary School Teachers Contributory Retirees (CDSLGPSTC) yesterday trooped to the streets of Asaba, Delta State capital, protesting over their unpaid gratuities and pension.

Oasis Magazine learnt that they trailed Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the event, where he was graduating some 900 beneficiaries of the Girl Entrepreneurship Skills Training (GEST) programme to cry to him for help from the shackles of poverty.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Girl-Child, Mrs. Marilyn Okowa-Daramola said beneficiaries were trained in make-up, ICT, fashion and designing, hair-dressing and catering. At the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and the Government House, the protesters were allegedly told that the Governor had not returned from his vacation to the United Kingdom.

The protesting retirees blocked the entrance to the event centre where the GEST empowerment program’s graduates were to be honoured with a graduation ceremony.

The disgruntled protesters, who chanted solidarity songs, demanded that the governor pay their retirement benefits because they were tired of his broken promises year after year. Some retirees expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that their colleagues died without receiving their benefits, claiming that even benefactors of the deceased retirees were denied access to the accumulated funds.

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When Okowa was informed that the retirees, who were owed gratuity and pensions, were protesting, he reportedly left the venue through a non-exit gate, leaving elder statesmen and women unaddressed.

They accused Governor Okowa of intending to stay in office until the end of his term without paying their pensions.

Among the inscriptions carried by the protestors were: “Luke 10v7, Luke 10v7, Luke 10v7, Luke 10v7, “Okowa, pay us our pensions and gratuities now,” “Okowa, stop killing retirees,” “Retirees are suffering and dying on a daily basis,” “Governor Okowa, we implore you to pay our fathers and mothers their retirement benefits and save the state from today’s humiliation.” “If your name is EKWUEME, please act in accordance with your name and save the state from further embarrassment.”

Reacting to the report, an aide to Governor Okowa, Comrade Nelson Egware, said the event was not disrupted, but went on as planned.

His words: “They didn’t disrupt anything. The ceremony went on successfully.”