Pensioners of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) have announced they will join a nationwide naked protest scheduled for Dec. 8, to demand payment of outstanding pension arrears and palliative allowances owed by the Federal Government.
The decision was confirmed on Saturday by the National Financial Secretary of the pensioners, Bola Popoola, in a statement issued in Lagos.
The protest, organised by the Coalition of Federal Pensioners of Nigeria, was first announced on Friday by its National Chairman, Mukaila Ogunbote, who said the move had become necessary to compel government action.
According to him, pensioners have waited too long for the settlement of accumulated arrears linked to pension increments and the payment of approved palliatives.
Popoola said FRCN pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) had been “left with no option” but to take part.
“Our resolve to participate in the naked protest stems from the outright non-payment of the N25,000 palliative for six months, approved since 2023 by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
He added that pensioners were also aggrieved over unpaid arrears arising from the N32,000 minimum pension, stressing that colleagues in the diaspora planned to stage their own symbolic protests internationally on the same day.
“Such is not flying with our colleagues in diaspora, which is why they have vowed to put their own naked protest on the international stage, wherever they are domiciled on Dec. 8,” Popoola noted.
He described the situation of Nigerian pensioners as “vulnerable and troubling,” saying many who devoted decades to national service were now being “subjected to begging on the streets.”
He called for urgent government intervention to address the backlog of entitlements.
The coalition says the protest will proceed nationwide unless the Federal Government announces payment of the arrears before Monday.
