About two weeks ago, I sat in a group of six to seven people when an elderly citizen approached us to beg for financial support. One or two group members reached out, and afterwards, a discussion ensued on what could be responsible for a senior citizen taking to begging.
He failed to plan for his old age properly. He was lavish in his youthful days. Maybe he has always been poor. Each person advanced a reason for the man’s predicament. Soon, the discourse proceeded to how Nigerians fail to plan for old age, all in the name of trying to secure the future for their children, and how the country fails to care for its old citizens.
A group member, likely in his 70s, Pa Alade (surname withheld) had the most profound views on the topic in discussion. “What the eyes of an elder saw that made them hollow; if those of a child see them, they will go blind,” Pa Alade began.
“The man who came to beg might have landed in this messy state because of many things. His present situation might not have anything to do with lavishness in his heyday, as you, facing the only woman in the group, insinuated. It might also not have anything to do with deprivation from his youth.
“The man may have landed in this situation because he failed to plan for the aftermath of training his children or because the children later forgot their father’s sacrifices,” he continued.
Pa Alade, obviously a man of great experience, explained himself in detail. “I have been in those shoes before. I trained my children through school from my earnings as a secondary school teacher and from what I could access through cooperative loans.
“They grew up, got married and focused on their families, only sending money to me occasionally. I took no offence, because I knew that when your child gets married and has a family, things might become tighter and you should not have so many expectations.
“Upon retirement in 2010, I got some funds from the NUT and struggled to complete my site. My two sons also supported me in this regard.
“I also bought a computer, printer and photocopier machine to start a typing and printing business but erratic power supply crashed the business in no time. I had to see the last child, my daughter, through school and keep up with other expenses without any job or source of income. At that point, I truly began to experience what I have heard and seen pensioners go through. My eyes saw sege metala.
“The whole of 2010, 2011 passed without me getting my gratuity or pension and it was with excitement that I joined other retirees to work against [Chief Christopher] Alao-Akala, whom we saw as our common enemy. We all were excited with the coming of [Governor Abiola] Ajimobi. We all looked forward to better days. But it didn’t take us time to realise that things would be more similar. Iru iro ni iborun…egun ni a pe ko suwon, ni a ba fi sanga ro ile.
“With peanuts of a pension that could hardly care for us, we also struggled to get paid as and when due. My colleagues and I would queue up for hours in the sun waiting for verifications, and even at one point, we were only paid a fraction of our pensions. Pension arrears piled up, yet there was no hope of when they would be paid and that was how we suffered through the Ajimobi years.
“If you saw me at that point, I was no better than the man who just left. So, I can relate with this man’s plight; his situation might not be because he was a lazy man. The lesson I want you to learn is that you should prepare for old age,” Pa Alade concluded.
But being a reporter with a knack for getting the meat out of any story, I knew I should ask more questions, having realised he is a pensioner in Oyo State. I also wanted to get a one-up against two members of the group, diehard APC members in Ibadan South-West Local Government, with whom I was always arguing over how the government of my Principal, Governor Seyi Makinde has out-shined the APC government in the state despite the former only being in its sixth year.
“But what about now, Baba? Are you pensioners still suffering like before and is the Makinde government just like the others before it?” I quipped.
It was as if I unleashed Pa Alade on the opposition members in the state. Unaware of my position as an aide of the governor or my intention to ask the question, Baba started praying and cursing in the same breath as he compared and contrasted the immediate past administration in Oyo State with the GSM government.
“Ah, a o le fi iku we oorun [no one compares death with sleep]. How will any sane person compare Seyi’s government with the Ajimobi government? Anyone who dares to do that is an enemy of God. Since Seyi assumed office in 2019, our pensions have been paid on the same day as salaries. There is nothing that workers get in this state that we don’t get. He gives them 13th-month salary and a Christmas bonus; he gave them N25,000 wage award for over one year and gave us, pensioners, N15,000 monthly for the same period. Did you know that when Seyi was giving pensioners N15,000 wage award, some people’s pensions were below N9,000 per month? “My pension before the wage award was around N33,000 and I was taking home N48,000 monthly with the wage award.
“In January 2025, my pension went above N80,000 because the governor approved a N25,000 minimum pension and other increments that the Ajimobi, Alao-Akala and Ladoja administrations overlooked. How can you compare Seyi with Ajimobi, who, at one point, was only paying a fraction of our pensions and owed us for many months?
“Today, any pensioner in Oyo State who speaks against Makinde would be unfair. He has been doing well for us and we are praying for him every day. We know how past governors treated us. A o ni s’epe, sungbon enu wa o nii gb’ofo… A governor in this state once described us pensioners as dead people, but Seyi has made us rise from the dead.
“Today, many pensioners no longer need to wait for what their children will give to them. Now, I am not after building a house or buying a car; I just want to eat and be healthy, and what the Oyo State Government has done is enough to make me happy. We are all grateful to the governor.”
With my mission of scoring a political point against my APC friends accomplished, I informed Pa Alade that I am an aide to the governor. More elated, Pa Alade went into a prayer mode, raining prayers on Governor Makinde, much to my admiration and that of the non-partisan members of the group. If my Principal, Governor Makinde, is reading this, Pa Alade asked me to say thank you, and so did many workers and residents of the state, whose messages I am glad to deliver through this medium, as he begins his seventh year in office. “Ti eegun eni ba moo jo, ori a maa y atokun.”
*Alao is the Special Assistant (Print Media) to Governor Makinde.
