Pensioner Collapses At C.River Verification Exercise

A  pensioner, who came for a verification exercise by the Cross River State Government at Yakuur Local Government Area secretariat, Yakuur, in the state, collapsed at the venue out of exhaustion, and

was rushed back home, while several retirees and pensioners alleged ill-treatment by officials.They also faulted the method employed by the Verification team from  the Auditor General’s office in
collaboration with the Pensions Board in the local government, saying it was too rigorous for them at their age, especially the ailing ones and accused a cabal of swindling them.Some of the pensioners, who spoke to a journalist, pointed out that they have not received pensions for a period of three to seven months, alleging that the team skipped payment for up to three months.One of the retirees noted:” I am a 76- year- old man and there are so many old people, some are bed-ridden, others on wheel chairs and they have been waiting here for hours, Mr. Journalist, just look around you, the sight is nothing to write home about. They should have distributed the verification forms like they used to before since we still have to go through biometric verification.