A 91-year-old pensioner, Pa Jacob Kehinde Babajide, whose pension
came to an abrupt stop in August 2010 has narrated his sad experience.
His payment was stopped for over his inability to present his 1950 job
appointment letter.
“Nobody gave me any reason for stopping my pension,” “I just noticed
that I didn’t get alert from the bank anymore. There is this lady I used
to contact at the pension office; she was the one who helped me before
they paid me some arrears till August 2010. Since then, I haven’t heard
anything.
“When I contacted her again, she said I should bring the copy of my
pay slip from the bank. I sent it to her, then she phoned back saying I
should bring my first letter of appointment which I received on July 10,
1950. Don’t you see they don’t want to pay the money? Where on earth do
they expect me to get the letter? If you calculate very well, I got
that letter about 64 years ago.
“She told me that the person she normally contacted said unless I
brought that letter, a letter which I got before he was born, they would
not pay me. But for my sons and daughters, my condition would have been
very terrible.”
Babajide however told the Punch Newspapers that he has no regrets
giving 35 years of his life to serving the nation diligently, this was
not the type of retirement he looked forward to while joining the
accounts department of the now defunct Post and Telegrams under the
Ministry of Communications on July 10, 1950. The situation leaves him
deeply worried.
“I have an extension behind my flat, the place is almost crumbling.
If this money had come, I could have rebuilt it and be living better.
Nowadays I depend only on my children to send me money, when they don’t,
I suffer.
“While I was in service, I was not looking forward to this type of treatment because I didn’t do any funny act.
I worked as honest as possible. This was not the type of reward I was looking ahead to while I was still working.
“I give glory to God that I had been a Christian before I joined the
service and I was honest throughout my time there. I was not like other
people who would go to meet the senior men and be doing eye service, no.
I simply concentrated on my job.
“During my time there, I was always sent to the most difficult sections
especially when there was problem but God always helped me out,” he
said.
“I had a colleague, we were both Assistant Chief Accountants and I
was in the payment section which took care of any form of payments. I
was also controlling the votes that came to the department. The man was
in parcel section and people who had complaints on parcels would go to
him. Some of them who had claims, we had to refund them.
“So, on different occasions, he brought nine vouchers. When I received
them and if there were documents that were supposed to be attached, I
would ask him to bring them and I would acknowledge them. When I
satisfied myself, I authorised the vouchers and sent them to the post
office and our bank in the department. When those vouchers were paid,
they did not come to me again.
“It continued like that until one day when I got to the office and a
senior investigation officer entered and brought out one of the
vouchers. He asked if I authorized it because my signature was on it and
I said yes. I told him that by the time the vouchers left my table, the
attached documents were also intact but after payment, it didn’t return
to me and that I didn’t know what was responsible for that.
The man at the parcel department called Mr. Leke was very clever. He
ate, drank and spent lavishly and I began to wonder where he got such
money from. The senior investigation officer was on that case for a year
and eventually took the case to court. The man in the parcel department
was found guilty and was jailed for a year without the option of fine.
“After the case, I asked the investigation officer if he confirmed
from those whose names were on the vouchers if I had ever seen them
before or knew them at all. He said it had nothing to do with me. That
was an experience I will never forget.
“I was sitting on money but I never for once thought about stealing from
the system. But in my old age when I am supposed to be enjoying the
fruit of my labour, it is the system that is now robbing me of
happiness. I deserve better than this,” he said.
“It’s been a fairly long time since I left service in 1985 and the
people preparing the allowances would have thought that I am dead
especially when they look at my age. It is something I know people who
pay pension do very well. They would say this man must have died, so let
us not pay the money into his account anymore, and they now divert it
to their personal accounts.
“So, I am sure they must be paying my pension regularly into one of
their accounts thinking that I am dead by now at almost 91. I am not
surprised that this type of thing is happening. It is not as if
government stopped my pension but somebody is paying it into another
person’s account thinking that I am dead.
“I am a Christian and in all things, God says I should give thanks. That
I sleep and wake up, I thank God. I go to bed smoothly and He wakes me
up full of energy. I am really grateful to God,” he said.