Lemu, Sardauna’s aide, without pension for 6 years — Family
Alhaji Hassan Lemu, the Principal Private Secretary to the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, has been without his statutory pension benefit for onward of six years, has learnt from the family.
Daily Trust
The 86-year-old joined the public service as Third Class Clerk at the Northern Nigeria Secretariat on February 1949 and rose through the ladder before exiting the scene as permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance, Sokoto in September 1974.
His pension is paid through the Unity Bank account with a transaction titled Federal Pension Monthly Salary, paid through the office of Head of Service of the Federation. However, according to the document obtained by Daily Trust, the pension transaction stopped in July 2010.
Alhaji Lemu is unwell and could hardly explain the circumstance surrounding the anomaly but one of his children, Malam Salihu Hassan Lemu told our correspondent that the affected office had told their father that the stoppage was as result of verification exercise then, in which he participated.
He said his father had continued to visit the pension office in Abuja over the time but they always assured him that the payment would commence soon but nothing had happened up till now.
He said when it became obvious that their father could no longer make the trip to Abuja because of his ill-health, the children made several attempts without result.
“It is unfortunate that someone who had devoted his entire life to the service of this country could be denied his statutory entitlement,” he lamented, stressing, “all we want is for the federal government to fulfill its obligation to him.”
When contacted, the head communication at the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Mrs Theodora Ameachi, confirmed that he had been verified but could not confirm if he had been on government’s pension payroll.
She said she would need his details to confirm it and could not do so immediately since she was on a verification exercise holding in Port Harcourt.
Alhaji Lemu had worked in different cadres of the civil service in Nigeria and London. He was first posted to the late Premier’s office, Kaduna as private secretary on his return from secondment to the office of the Commissioner for Northern Nigeria in the United Kingdom as Executive Officer (Account) in 1956.
He was appointed as Assistant District Office in December 1956 and posted to Borno Province from where he returned to London to the office of the Commissioner for Northern Nigeria in the United Kingdom again as Assistant Secretary in May 1957.
On his return to Nigeria in July 1960, he was reposted to the late Premier’s office as acting Principal Private Secretary and later appointed acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice in 1961.
He was in Borno as acting Provincial Secretary before he was re-posted to the Premier’s office as Principal Private Secretary from January, 1964 to January, 1966.