Three elderly pensioners collapsed on Monday at the venue of the ongoing forensic audit of active and passive workers of the Osun State government.
The incident happened at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, the state capital.
The pensioners had arrived at the venue early in the morning to wait for the screening exercise to begin. However, some of them collapsed due to the stress of standing for long hours in the hot sun.
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners in the state has appealed to the government to decentralise the screening exercise so that pensioners do not have to travel long distances to participate.
The union has also expressed concern about the inhuman treatment that some pensioners have been subjected to during the exercise.
The Osun State government through the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi has reacted to the incident by directing that all bedridden, healthy-challenged, and out-of-state pensioners will subsequently have their audit exercise conducted via telephone or video call.
“Pensioners outside the state at the moment no longer need to travel down to Osun State as they will also be having their screening through the telephone.
“Additionally, pensioners in the diaspora will also be screened only through video calls.
“In line with the above, the pension board is expected to make available all the particulars, especially pictures of pensioners to the consultant, for ease of identification during the video call screenings.” he said
The new directives are expected to take immediate effect.
