LTV retirees appeal to Governor Fashola

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

More than 130 retirees of the Lagos State Television have cried out to Governor Babatunde Fashola to pay their N17 million monthly subvention his administration stopped two years ago.

They said the development had worsened their living condition.

At a news conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos Council, in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, the retirees accused the government of poor management of the station.

According to them, over 70 percent of its services were rendered freely to the state government while the state paid huge sum of money for similar services in order media houses.

Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP,  Lagos Televison Chapter, Mr. James Ogunbanjo accused the government of reducing the monthly subvention of N17 million to N3 million on the ground that the station could generate income to cater for its needs.

“The development has added to the woes of the station’s management owing to enormous responsibilities the station is saddled with, since the state government and its officials do not pay for the services rendered by the station.

“How can it be possible when the Lagos State Government refused to pay for over 70 percent of the services rendered by the station as its mouthpiece? This same government paid a huge sum of money to other private stations for similar services. Besides, all directors use the Blue Roof for their events without paying kobo but they pay a whopping sum of money to rent event centres owned by private individuals.

“Now, we can say that both the pensioners and workers are feeling the pains. Many of our members have died while others are seriously ill due to irregular payment of monthly pensions.

“Those us who are still alive find it difficult to take care of our health due to lack of funds. Pensioners drawing monthly pension from the Lagos Television have nowhere to go. We are old and have no strength of seeking job again as we have used the better part of our lives serving the state government,” Ogunbanjo stated.

The retired civil servant also berated the government over poor handling of the Lagos Printing Corporation, saying over 30,245 pensioners in Lagos were not taken care of by the government.

He appealed to Fashola to restore the payment of the N17 million monthly subvention to the station to enable it pays their pension arrears.