Hundreds of Edo State civil service retirees on Tuesday protested at the state House of Assembly, demanding their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and return to the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
The retirees, led by their spokesperson, Andrew Asemota, said the CPS had subjected them to severe financial hardship, arguing that many of them were employed under the old Bendel State before Edo State was created.
Asemota, a former protocol officer at the Edo State House of Assembly, said he retired at Grade Level 16 but receives only N43,000 monthly as pension. He claimed some retirees receive as little as N7,000 to N10,000.
He said many of the affected workers had already spent between 28 and 30 years in service before the state introduced the CPS and should not have been transferred to the scheme.
“We came here to appeal to the House of Assembly to help us move from CPS to DBS, which is the old scheme,” Asemota said.
The protesters also appealed to Governor Monday Okpebholo to intervene and repeal the policy, as it affects workers employed before the CPS was introduced.
Their protest comes months after Okpebholo announced that his administration had set up a high-powered committee to review concerns surrounding the state’s contributory pension scheme. Labour leaders had also called for workers employed before 2017 to be excluded from the CPS and returned to the Defined Benefit Scheme.
Responding to the protesters, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Yekini Idaiye, commended them for conducting themselves peacefully.
He assured the retirees that their petition would be considered and that their concerns would be communicated to the governor for necessary action.
