By Ezrel Tabiowo Abuja Concerned by the deplorable state of lives the Bakassi people were being subjected to in their land, the Senate at plenary yesterday urged the federal government to carry out a comprehensive resettlement programme for people of Bakassi.
Th is was just as it appealed to the federal government to urgently tackle the challenges of poverty, statelessness and deprivation arising from the continuous neglect of the Bakassi people. It also urged the federal government to carry out a proper valuation of the loss of Bakassi and work out a just and perpetual compensation to Cross River state while asking its committee on Special Duties and Finance to invite relevant agencies of government, and groups with a view to determine the extent of humanitarian crisis facing the Bakassi people.
Th ese resolutions of the Senate followed a motion by Sen. Gershom Bassey (Cross River South) and 13 others anchored on theme: “A Call for the Proper Resettlement and Compensation of the Bakassi.” In his submission, Senator Bassey noted that 14 years after the international Court of Justice (ICJ) gave its judgement on the ownership of the oilrich Bakassi Peninsula, the federal government had failed to properly resettle and compensate the people of Bakassi. He argued that the failure to resettle and compensate the people of Bakassi had made them become refugees in their homeland with no form of livelihood and hope for posterity. By AbdulRaheem Aodu Kaduna Kaduna state government is set to settle arrears of pension and gratuity since 2011 amounting to N15 billion following the approval of supplementary budget by the House of Assembly, Governor Nasir elRufai has said.
Addressing the launch of payment of pension benefi ts under the revamped Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), he said the interest of pensioner and sustainability of government pension obligations were uppermost in his mind when government championed the passage of the Kaduna state Pension Reform Law 2016. He said: “We do not think it is fair that the pensioner should face delays in payment or be subjected to the perennial stress of physical verifi cation, often in arduous conditions. We conducted our own verifi cation of pensioners and were not surprised to fi nd ghost pensioners whom we proceeded to knock off the payroll. “But we knew that we needed new legal and institutional arrangements to manage public sector pensions. We were concerned about the huge size of the inherited arrears of pension and gratuity of almost N15 billion. And the fi scal challenges many states have faced since the collapse of the oil price, with many unable to pay even current workers, meant that the agony of pensioners may worsen without reform.
“We wish them well in retirement, so we are persuaded that a pension scheme, with clear rules, a transparent regulator and operators that provide regular account updates to subscribers is fairer and more sustainable.” Speaking on behalf of the recipients, Salama Muhammed urged the governor to continue with his good work and maintained good industrial relationship with workers. “We are happy today for collecting our retirement letters.
We commended our Governor for this wonderful pension scheme. We retired last month and we started receiving our pension money this month it’s a major breakthrough for retirees in the state despite economic crisis when other states cannot pay salaries,” she said. Speaking also, the Executive Secretary, Kaduna state Pension Bureau, Dan Ndackson, said: “As we commence the payment of pension benefi ts under the Contributory Pension Scheme in Kaduna state today, we are hopeful that this would mark the beginning of the end to delays in accessing pension benefi ts in Kaduna state.” According to him, the inexplicable vacillation in resolving the lingering crisis in the area is building up another humanitarian crisis as citizens in the area have no country to lean on at the moment. Bassey noted that whereas the Republic of Cameroon unlike Nigeria, have properly resettled its indigenes in the peninsula and have commenced eff ective development of its part of the peninsula, the government had done little or nothing to give sense of belonging to the people.
Recall that Bakassi Peninsular was ceded to the Republic of Cameroon under the leadership of former President Olusegun Obasanjo without recourse to the approval of National Assembly.
