Senior citizens in Zamfara have appealled to Governor Dauda Lawal to look into the possibility of settling the four-month arrears in order to save the lives of many pensioners in the state.
The pensioners expressed sadness over their inability to feed due to the delay in payment of their arrears.
A retired permanent secretary who preferred anonymity stated that he had sold the only family car in order to buy ram and food items for Sallah celebration.
“I tried my best to get a loan in order to buy food items and ram for Eid El Kabir celebration, but nobody was ready to give me credit because I am heavily indebted due to the nonpayment of four months’ pension,” the source said.
“For this reason, I sold the only car I have at give-away price so that I could buy food items and ram for Sallah. I want to use this medium to appeal to our caring Governor to please do something to bail us out of this hopeless situation.”
Mohammed Aminu, said he had sold almost all of his belongings in an effort to feed his family, lamenting that he could not afford even a square meal per day.
He, however, stressed that former Governor Bello Mattawalle was responsible for the pensioners’ predicament as he was not able to pay them for three months during his tenure.
“We are not blaming the present Governor of the state, Dauda Lawal, for the situation we are in at the moment because he inherited this mess from his predecessor, Bello Mattawalle”.
Meanwhile, the senior special assistant to Governor Lawal on broadcast media, Press and Public Affairs, Malam Mustafa Jafaru Kaura, said arrangements were in the pipeline to settle the pensioners as was done to civil servants.
