President of the union of FirstBank pensioners, Prince Debo Olaoya, has accused the management of the bank of insensitivity to the well-being of its retirees, just as security agents deprived the aggrieved pensioners from unleaching terror at the sixth national tri-ennial conference of the bank.
Olaoye, who disclosed that the union had been at loggerhead with the bank management improved welfare for his members, decried the bank’s recalcitrant attitude to the plight of its retirees.
“They have been able to give us tiny increase in our monthly pension and medical allowances. These tiny increases cannot stand the test of time because we go to the same market with the elite, who are richer than us. Some years ago, the FirstBank came with obnoxious policy. It retired people at their prime age, when they were not ready to leave the bank. This made our people to wallop in penury. And this is why we have been putting up all legal efforts to ensure that FirstBank behaves.”
Speaking during the bank’s conference held at the Tribune Events Centre, Imalefalafia, Ibadan, Oyo State, Olaoye accused the bank of increasing the retirees’ monthly pension by a paltry N2,500 and medical allowance from N25,000.00 to N30,000.00, which according to him, was still unreasonable, considering the harsh economic situation in the country.
“The FirstBank management was trying to knock our heads together. A group of people who had never been involved in the activities of the union just emerged today. We have a lot of people from Lagos who were allegedly paid to disrupt the election, so the true delegates from all over the country refused that arrangement. This made the atmosphere chaotic and informed the need to postpone the election.”
While the executive of the union has promised to fix a date for the election, Vice Chairman, North Central Zone, Mr Emmanuel Iordekaren, alleged that a group of people were sponsored to disrupt the election.
The General Secretary of the union, Elder A. E Ekenobi, who corroborated the position of the president and vice chairman, North, explained that “We never expected the population that we saw today, so we have to make sure that lives were saved and that was why the president called off the election. We shall reconvene the delegates after the tension had come down and conduct the election.”
