Journalists who retired from the services of Lagos Television/Radio Lagos/EKO FM on Tuesday appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to pay their terminal benefits, which had been lingering since 2017.
Former Secretary of the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Biodun Akinbusuyi, made the appeal.
Akinbusuyi in a statement on Tuesday said the file for the bailout fund in which the entitlements had been computed by the state pension commission was on the Governor’s table.
He said: “What is required is for the governor to append his signature for payment to be effected.
“In September 2021, the Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponle, held a meeting with the retirees.
“At the meeting, she promised that the terminal benefits would be paid before 2021 Christmas, but the pledge was not honoured.”
Akinbusuyi stressed, however, that the fault was not Sanwo-Olu’s.
“What Sanwo-Olu would be doing was to assist LTV/Radio Lagos/EKO FM with a bailout which had been computed by the Lagos State Pensions Commission,” Akinbusuyi, who retired from the service in 2018, added.
He noted that colleagues of the retirees who left the state’s Ministry of Information in 2017 and in 2018 had been enjoying their terminal benefits.
He noted also that the state government had also begun payment for 2019 retirees.
He urged “Governor Sanwo-Olu to take a more humane look at the plight of retired journalists of LTV/Radio Lagos/Eko FM, so they would not die in poverty.
“About 15 retired journalists have died since 2017 due to paucity of funds to take care of their health challenges in retirement.”
Akinbusuyi said five of the retired journalists were nursing various health ailments, while those who live in rented apartments had been served quit notices.
“They are living on borrowed time,” he lamented.