Nigerian Pensioners Threaten to go Nude in Protest of Economic Hardship

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners says its members will take to the streets naked, if the welfare of pensioners in the country does not improve significantly any time soon.

The National President of the union, Godwin Abumusi, told journalists at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday that his union will take the action to draw the attention of the world to the plight of pensioners.

“I am going to lead Nigerian pensioners naked,” he said. “I mean, when we are going to protest, we are going to go naked on the street, so that the world will see the pensioners in Nigeria are demonstrating naked.

“If they like, they will arrest us and say, ‘Why did you go naked on the streets?’.

Delays in the payments of pensions are commonplace in Nigeria and protests by pensioners happen every now and then. For Mr Abumusi, the plight of pensioners is hard to comprehend.

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“In Nigeria, governments don’t think about the poor people. They only think about themselves. Otherwise, how can a pensioner in Enugu receive as low as N450. How can this be?, he lamented.

As the cost of living continues to skyrocket and with organised unions pushing for a new minimum wage for workers, pensioners are also calling for a review of the national minimum pension.

Mr Abumusi was clear on what it would take for pensioners to get by with the prevailing economic situation.

He said, “We wish to propose the sum of N100,000 as the national minimum pension to the tripartite committee in line with the proposed N200,000 minimum wage by the NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress); as anything short of that will incur the wrath of the pensioners who are hard hit by the prevailing economic hardship.”