Some retirees and families of deceased civil servants in Lagos State have cried out over delays in the payment of pensions and gratuities owed to them. Many of them said they have been waiting since 2021 and 2022 without receiving their entitlements, despite submitting all required documents to the Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC).
The affected pensioners and families spoke with reporters on Monday, expressing frustration at the slow pace of processing and the hardship it has caused.
One of them, Mrs. Kehinde Adeoye, a 70-year-old who worked at Surulere Local Government before her retirement in 2022, said she had made several visits to the pension office in Lagos without success.
“I left service in 2022 and I have been coming here, but they keep telling me to be patient, that they will pay me, and that they will call me. I gave them my phone number and everything, yet they didn’t call me or do anything. I’m here again, and they said I should be patient, that our names are on the list. It’s just as if they are deceiving someone. I have brought everything they asked for,” she lamented.
Similarly, Mrs. Funke Awotoye, the wife of a deceased civil servant, said she had been struggling to access her late husband’s gratuity since 2021. Her husband, Mr. Sikiru Awotoye, worked at Apapa Local Government before his death.
“It’s my late husband’s pension. Since February 2021, I’ve been to LASPEC. We submitted everything. They even asked us to do a Letter of Administration and everything is ready. I’m still here now and they are just telling me to wait. It’s been a long time I’ve been coming. Since 2023, I’ve been going to LASPEC. I don’t know how much they want to give him, but they said they will work it out,” she explained.
Another widow, Mrs. Adijatu Ismaheel, shared a similar experience. She said her husband died in 2021, just three years before his retirement, but she had not received his entitlement despite completing all required paperwork.
“The pension is for my late husband. He died three years to his retirement from service. I have done all the processing. The challenge is that they are not answering me. He died in 2021. I have been processing it since then,” she said.
Some family members of living retirees also expressed worry. Shina, whose aged mother retired from service, said she had been expecting about N1.2 million but had not received it due to processing delays.
He said, “They are delaying the processing of the fund. It is having a detrimental effect on me. It’s taking my time and money. My mom is 70, and moving her around for her pension doesn’t sit well with me. The fact remains that the processing should not be this slow if there’s no deficiency in the finances and accounting unit. I trust the Lagos State Government to have dropped the bonds of retirees of over three years.”
However, the Director General of the Lagos State Pension Commission, Mr. Babalola Obilana, denied the claims of neglect. He maintained that LASPEC had been facilitating prompt payments to retirees and their families.
He said, “If I can get the specific names, I can tell. But that’s not true; that information is not correct. We still made some payments of about N1.5bn in April. And people who retired in December and some who retired in January of this year have been paid. So, that information is not true. If you come to my office with the names of those people, we will show you whether their files are here or not. Some will not tell you the truth. I’m in the office, I operate an open-door policy. If anybody has an issue, they can come to my office.”
The concerns of the pensioners and families highlight the recurring challenge of delayed entitlements in Nigeria’s public service system. Many retired workers depend on pensions as their main source of livelihood, and delays often worsen their financial struggles.
While the government insists it is paying promptly, the complaints from affected families suggest gaps in communication and processing. The situation continues to generate tension between pensioners and LASPEC, with expectations that the Lagos State Government will step up efforts to clear outstanding payments.
