Members of the Association of New Ogun State Civil and Public Service Retirees on Thursday, called for a postponement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), lamenting that it has left them unprepared, vulnerable and exposed to severe hardship.
The retirees made the call in a protest held at the governor’s office, Okemosan Abeokuta, stressing that the money received under the CPS arrangement, is not enough to cater for their basic survival and needs.
Speaking on behalf of the senior citizens, Omopariola Oluwole, noted that they face shame, ridicule and even emotional trauma following their inability to meet their basic obligations.
Oluwole insisted that they were not prepared for the sudden policy shift and had planned their retirement around the Definef Benefit Scheme not CPS
He said, “We are retirees from July 2, 2025 and we are here to plead with our governor, we know he’s very friendly, kind, and we know he loves his staff. We appreciate that when we were in service, we received our salaries as at when due and we thank him for paying pension to pensioners that retired before us.
“We are here to plead with him that this issue of CPS should be shifted forward to a convenient time when all indices concerning it have been put in place. We realize that some amount of money were deposited in our RSA account but,it’s not what we are expected to have in our account.
“By now our RSA account should be nothing less than 50 million and above, but what we have is around 10 million to 11million. Even some have less than that and based on this we cannot go home to rely on this.
“Imagine somebody that is have N400,00 per month been given N50,000 now, what can that do in the current situation of this country ? He asked.
“So we are pleading that our governor should have mercy on those of us that retired since July 2, 2025 till date to shift forward the implementation of CPS and start giving us divine benefit scheme, where we have been receiving monthly pension money and then wait for our gratuity.”
He admitted that it wasn’t the fault of Governor Dapo Abiodun as the policy was long initiated in 2008, but called for a shift until all indices are done.
Mrs Arinola Adetayo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ogun Bureau of Pensions, addressed the demonstrators’ agitation by promising that the governor would attend to their demands.
“As we all know, our governor is a listening governor, and I can assure you that the issue of CPS would be addressed.
“We’ve listened to your agitations and we would tell His Excellency your messages and we would relate back to the head of service and it will be taken from them” she said.
