Lawyer and public affairs analyst, Maxwell Opara, has called for legislation criminalising delays and denial of pension payments, arguing that retirees should not be forced to protest before receiving entitlements earned after decades of service.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE News on Thursday, Opara said failure to pay pensions when due should attract criminal sanctions.
“So, I think this is high time we criminalised delaying or denial of pension. We should criminalise it. There should be a legislation that we should push up a legislation, where you fail to pay pension as at when due, it should be a criminal offense,” he said.
He said pensioners who had spent decades serving the country should not have to demand money they were legally entitled to receive.
“That somebody will serve a country for 35 years, his own money, he’s not asking you to borrow him money, his own money he suffered for. ‘Pay me my right, pay me my gratuity, pay me my pension’,” he added.
Opara also condemned the alleged use of tear gas against protesting pensioners, describing it as a violation of their constitutional rights.
He further noted, “It’s a gross violation of rights. If you’re talking about Section 34, Section 40, it’s a gross violation of rights for tear-gassing the people that are harmless, the people that are harmless, the people that are just protesting, exercising their rights, and you are tear-gassing them.”
