A visually-impaired retired school teacher, Aniobi John, has lauded Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, for demonstrating genuine leadership and passion for the welfare of serving and retired workers, saying that he has rekindled his long lost hope of receiving his entitlements.
Aniobi was among 162 retirees that benefitted from the N1.156b bond certificates presented to a fresh set of pensioners by the state government.
Aniobi, who received a bond certificate of N8.3million, described the gesture as the best thing that has ever happened to him since he retired in 2016.
While speaking with newsmen after receiving his bond certificate, Aniobi described the gesture as a great relief to him and his family in view of what they had passed through since he retired from active service.
The pensioner who claimed to have lost his sight three years before his retirement in 2016, said the payment of his pension and gratuity in full would in no measure go a long way to begin a new life filled with prosperity and abundance.
According to him, Governor Oyetola has made what seems impossible possible, put smile in the faces of his family members and dependants who had hitterto lost hope after waiting for more than eight years.
“This is a true manifestation of a prayer point for one to receive his dues by one’s hand. It is like a dream to me because this is a lost hope that has just been rekindled after waiting hopelessly for several years.
“I retired from active service in 2016 as a school teacher after I had served for 35 years. I retired at level 14 step 11, and since my retirement, I have been facing hell due to the inability of government to pay my entitlements.
“Though I am under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, since I retired, it hasn’t been my turn until today that I received my bond certificate totalling N8.361, 306.
“I am sincerely thankful to Governor Oyetola for making this a reality for me, most importantly when I am still alive and healthy. It is indeed a demonstration of genuine leadership and passion for the welfare of workers.
“Though it may take long before this is coming my way, I am fully aware that the current administration has not failed for once in its resolve to advance the cause, welfare and anything pertaining to workers’ welfare and general well-being in the State.
“I want to implore the Governor not to relent in his efforts to maintain the pace of development and be more steady on the lane. People are watching and they know what he has been doing and how he has been struggling so hard to make things work in spite the economic reality.
“As I return all glory to God, so also I express my deepest gratitude to the State Government for making this to happen during my lifetime and I appeal to the Governor to look into others so that they too can have their entitlements”, he added.
