By Michael Ofulue, Osogbo
Osun State Government has been cautioned against subjecting her senior citizens to rigorous screening exercises that worsen their health condition.
Speaking with The Hope, Director, Centre for Social Research, Osogbo, Mr Wale Adebisi criticized the pains pensioners were subjected to during the just concluded screening exercise done by the Osun State Government, saying such was unnecessary.
“The cumbersome nature of the exercise was unnecessary because the screening operation could have been better handled by the local government authorities where every pensioner comes from and sent back to the state for collation and confirmation.
Adebisi suggested that the use of technology should be deployed to validate the statistical information and create a database, instead of relying on manual ways of screening exercises that can be faulted by corruption, alterations, and manipulations.
Adebisi who frowned at the pains pensioners (senior Citizens) are going through in Nigeria, especially in Osun State hinted that such ought not to be if both previous and present governments were sincere in addressing the plight of pensioners who have meritoriously served their fatherland.
Also speaking Dr. Ayodeji Ologun, Executive Director of, the Centre for Responsive Governance said “I think the problem in various degrees confronting the pensioners is needless and avoidable if the system can be fixed.
“it is doable since it is contributory, and if the government is sincere, a pensioner should be able to access his or her pension days after retirement”.
Ologun hinted that the cumbersome nature of the audit system is demoralizing. “These are tired men and women already and are being forced to go through rigorous and avoidable processes to access what is ordinarily theirs.
He called on the government to be sincere in dealing with pensioners’ issues, saying they are senior citizens who have laboured hard and deserve to get their legitimate entitlement.
