northern half of the country most prone to the showers once more. notice on some of our city forecasts, though, the sign of something wetter, but also windier for thursday and friday. the key will be just how quickly this area of low pressure moves in. at the moment, we think it's going to be thursday. if it's delayed, thursday will be a drier day, and then we'll see that wet and windy weather arrive on friday. but certainly one thing to keep an eye on this week.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the united nations holds talks, as the conflict between israel and palestinians in gaza continues for a seventh day. the secretary—general has pleaded for peace. the fighting must stop. it must stop immediately. the rockets and mortars on one side, the aerial

and artillery bombardments on the other, must stop. i appeal to all parties to heed this call. efforts to combat the india variant of covid ramp up in england, ahead of lockdown restrictions being relaxed tomorrow. i'm confident that we can take the step tomorrow, | but we should all be careful i about how we take that step. you asked me about eating indoors with people. - it is still safer to eat outdoors when the weather allows. - the parents of two—year—old george hinds — who was killed in a suspected gas explosion in lancashire — have paid tribute to their little boy as an angel. now on bbc news... nigeria's pensions system is in a mess. it leaves some elderly people penniless after decades of hard work, but it grants some politicians generous retirement packages.

you work hard, behave responsibly, save into a pension scheme and have a happy retirement, right? save into a pension scheme wrong. save into a pension scheme after decades of saving into government pension schemes, when it's time to collect, many nigerians across the country get nothing, unless they pay. but while some retired people sink into poverty waiting for their pension, others are raking it in. he is entitled to 300% of his basic pension. he is entitled to four cars, replaceable every four years. one man. i'm yemisi adegoke, and i want to find out why politicians are awarding themselves huge pensions while ordinary people are having to fight to get anything at all.

every year in nigeria, thousands of nurses, teachers and other government workers retire, expecting to swap their salary for a pension to support them in old age. my mother was a healthcare worker for 27 years and paid into the pension plan. we started looking into claims of corruption around pensions when we were contacted by obaji akpet, a reporter from cross river state. when she retired last year, she should have started receiving her pension, but she didn't. like many nigerians would do, i had to step in to support her financially while she waited.

she reached out to the pension office in calabar to find out why, and she was told she would need to pay some money to get her papers moving. because she was anxious about her pension, my mother paid 6000 naira. and then, in october, 0baji got in touch with the pension office. he, too, told us he was asked to pay a bribe of10,000 naira, and that is when he got in touch with us. we asked him to secretly film any further interactions he had with pensions officials. bye — bye. bye. a month later, he was asked to come to calabar by one of the officials. her name is angela etta. so far, my mother and i have made

two sets of payments and i still don't know when she will get her money. according to angela, i need to pay another person in the department. phone rings. hi, mrs etta. alright, bye. i am off to see angela again, this time wearing a hidden camera. angela tells me the money i have already paid will help move things along.

i still don't have a definite date or time when my mother will get her pension, but angela thinks she has done a good job and wants another payment. she describes my visit to her office as a visit to a temple, and she wants an offering. no—one actually uses the word "bribe", but it seems that payment is expected — payment to a government worker whose job it is to pay out pensions. 0baji does what he is expected to do. thank you so much. 0k. so 0baji and his mum have now made three payments to angela, amounting to 21,000 naira.

but apparently, it is not enough. five weeks later — and with his mother's pension four months late — angela calls 0baji who is now in lagos, asking for more money. it's for someone higher up, she claims. we have no idea if there really is another higher—up person who needs to be paid, or if it's just more money for her. how much exactly does he want? what is the guarantee that mum is going to have her papers processed and then she's going to be payrolled... bring it, bring it, bring it. when we speak to margaret injanuary, one month later, she still hasn't received her pension.

i feel so bad that my mum still hasn't received her pension yet. after paying so much, having to go through all the process of bribing her and all that, she's demanding so much from us, nothing. delays in getting your pension or having to pay to get it aren't just problems in cross river state. they are national. we have heard stories of pension corruption at all levels and across nigeria, that pension funds are being emptied, leaving nothing to pay people with. and in fact, in 2019, 400 billion naira was owed to pensioners across the country.

we then heard of another way retirees are being denied their money. i am on my way to meet a man who's dead, according to the state. so just tell me a little bit about what you used to do for a living. when 0gah gabriel retired in 2000, he received his pension regularly until 2020, when it suddenly stopped. cross river state had decided mr gabriel, like over 1,000 other people in the state, either didn't exist or was dead. i, franka akpeke inok... to get his pension, he would have to convince the auditor—general mrs franka inok, seen here at her inauguration, that he was alive.

despite his medical challenges, 0gah gabriel made the trip to the auditor—general�*s office. even though he only had photocopies of some documents he was told he needed, he was confident. another reason he was confident was because he has known the auditor—general since she was a little girl. according to him, the auditor—general was furious. and when his wife spoke up to support him, it made her even angrier.

and mr gabriel isn't the only retired person who claims they were denied their hard—earned pension because mrs inok took offence. so each time you went to the office, you have to carry all this with you? yes, yes, yes, yes. mrs ekpenyong ewa worked as a nurse for 22 years. she had been living off her pension for 15 years when suddenly, in may last year, it stopped. like mr gabriel, she had to prove to the auditor—general she was alive by going back to calabar again and again. she says six months after her pension stopped, she finally got to speak to the auditor—general...

..but the auditor—general was not about to reinstate her pension. we heard stories like this over and over again, from all across the state — pensioners old, sick and out of money, waiting for the auditor—general. eventually, they'd had enough, and on 3 november 2020, they started a protest.

we will sit down and wait for her. once the protest has quietened down, mrs ewa says she was taken into a room full of people, including the auditor—general.

this apology was filmed by someone in the room and put online. it's outrageous, hearing the story of this 62—year—old woman who spent 22 years working for the state government, not only being denied her pension being then intimidated by the auditor—general and security personnel.

fake or �*ghost�* pensioners are a real problem in nigeria. and the adding fictitious names to the payroll is one of the ways money is stolen from government funds. sometimes, there are more fake pensioners than real ones. the state that cannot have more than 3,000, 4,000 pensioners, have 10,000. jerry uwah is a finance and businessjournalist, familiar with the problem of pension fraud. but he doesn't think the culprits are ordinary people like mrs ewa and mr 0gah. what happens is that somebody will add names of non—existent pensioners. that one goes to him — the people at the top. it's not something at the grassroots. the people at the top. they will pay those ghost pensioners immediately, and the money goes into their pockets. it's not something a clerk can do, because it would be discovered.

it's right up there. so, how can states tackle the problem of ghost pensioners? hello, nice to meet you. kolawole 0luwadare is the deputy director of serap, organisation that advocates for more transparency in government. he says technology should be available to identify them. if we have an id system that is robust and covers everyone, why can't payments be done electronically? why do they have to come physically, coming great distances? coming to those staying in remote areas. and these are very poor people, by the way. but even if you don't have advanced technology, it still shouldn't take weeks, months, or years to work out who is alive and who isn't. i'm in 0kele, which is a community in yala, where last october, this list was published with over

300 names of people declared dead, and as a result, their pension payment stopped. 99% of the people there are still alive. the local community leader takes me to meet some of those from the list of dead people. come out. good afternoon, mr cletus? so, your name is mr efika cletus lafin? yeah. and that's your name here? so, your name is on this list, sir, that says you are dead. that's the list. i'm not dead, madam. i can see that. i can see that you're alive. mr cletus laughs. so, this is your national id card? and this is your name, on this list of people that are supposedly dead,

this is your id, confirming you are who you say you are. mr cletus stopped getting his pension injune, last year. so, how have you been surviving? he has been to calabar five times. two weeks? so, you'd spent two weeks in calabar, even though you don't have anybody there? you sleep outside? welcome. good evening. i can see that your name is here on this list.

yes. it says you are a ghost pensioner, but here you are, alive. yes. id card, voter's card. she shows us her voter card, it appears to be the same person who is alive and standing in front of me. but it's been nearly two years since she last received her pension. while some pensioners are struggling just to get the money they're owed, there is a group of nigerians who expect a bit more from retirement — politicians. because nigeria is run on a federal system, each state gets to decide a lot of its own laws, which is handy — if you run the state. like the former governor of zamfara state, abdul�*aziz yari, who sanctioned a lawjust two months before he retired, which would give him quite a pension.

he's entitled to 10 million naira every month as �*overhead costs�* — overhead of what? nobody knows. he's entitled to 300% of his basic as pension. and yet, this man whose gratuity and entitlement has been paid immediately after he left office, there's 10 billion naira in pension arrears. so, although the state might not have the money to pay ordinary pensioners the ten billion naira it owes them, there always seems to be money to pay the politicians. the current government of zamfara eventually repealed this law, but he's not the only ex—governor to benefit from preferential pension laws. like lagos did, the governor is entitled to two houses, one in lagos, one in abuja in a location of his choice. that's what the law says. so, if the governor is greedy enough to demand a house at banana island,

buy a land there at $4 million per plot, then he's entitled to 300% of his basic as pension, he's entitled to four cars, replaced every four years. one man. and that's in some states. that is too much for one man. he's spoiling thousands of pensioners, three years of pensions that have not been paid. protests recently erupted in enugu state, and the house of assembly tried to pass a law that would give ex—governors and their deputies and their wives an outlandish amount of money and perks for their pensions. chanting: solidarity for ever! cars, medical bills, even funerals costs are covered. according to one estimate, it would amount to 900% of the basic annual salary of a serving governor.

serap has been trying to find out through the courts to find out exactly how much politicians get, claiming these laws are illegal. so far, only one state has been willing to disclose any information on their pension law, laws which should be available to the public. it is not only unlawful, it is immoral. this huge hoarding of the finances and the budgets of the state. monies that could otherwise have been spent on roads, or water, education, or health. this doesn'tjust affect older people, it affects everybody. if you're working today and paying into a pension scheme, there is no guarantee you will get your money when you retire. it's just basically taking what should be for the people. it's sad, really. it really is sad. the whole of nigeria should be concerned. it is too much. it is far too much.

not many politicians are willing to speak out against their pay. how are you? but senator shehu sani is openly critical. what a typical state governor takes home, as a pension, can settle the wages of over 3,000—4,000 teachers. so, why should the state dedicate such kind of money to former governors? back in calabar, where we started our investigation, mr gabriel, mrs ewa, mrs akpet, and mrs ngboro are finally receiving their pensions, though not all have been paid the thousands and thousands of naira they lost due to their pensions being illegitimately withheld for so many months. despite years of promises of change from the very top, we found the pension system still hampered by incompetence and corruption, causing devastation in the lives of elderly

and vulnerable nigerians. we put the findings of our investigation to mrs angela etta, mrs frank inok and governor ben ayode of cross river state and asked for their comments. they have not responded. efika cletus died shortly after we finished filming. he had not been paid any of his pension.

good evening. some of you will spend the day under sunny skies, blissfully unaware how disturbed the atmosphere has been. so disturbed, in fact, that we saw this area close to the somerset coast. a funnel cloud which may have had impacts on the ground, making it a tornado. and we continue that sort of disturbed atmosphere as we go through the next few days, in fact, with some more thundery downpours changing the areas from one day to the next. staying on the cool side, too, and then a spell of potentially quite wet and windy weather later in the week. now, its low pressure that's in charge throughout and its low pressure that's been on top of us today, hence the thunderstorms we've seen. slowly pushing its way eastwards, but because it's still close by, it means many of the showers through the day, whilst they will lose intensity, some will keep going. so, there'll be a few showers dotted around during the night into the morning, plenty of cloud, some clear breaks, but it should be a frost free night for just about all. if we are going to see

something close to a frost, it could be in northern ireland, maybe far southwest of scotland. but by and large, well clear of a frost for most as we start monday morning. there will be a cloudy start. an area of low pressure shifting its way further eastwards, but it's still close by to produce those showers, and with winds converging along these eastern parts later, it's going to be the eastern half of the country that will see the worst of the showers. there'll be a few dotted around across some western areas to begin with and late in the day, but overall, fewer showers in the west compared with sunday. heaviest of the showers in eastern scotland, through the eastern parts of england and some towards some of these southern coastal counties again. again, heavy with hail and thunder possible. if you get any longer sunny spells, it will feel quite pleasant out there, but when the showers come through, the temperatures, of course, will drop. some of the showers will continue through the night into tuesday. a cool start, but again, largely frost free, and after a largely dry start, the showers get going again. areas most focused on the showers, central and southern parts of england, wales, northern ireland. parts of southern scotland and northern england look like there'll be fewer showers. should be dry with some sunshine. a lot more cloud and rather cool across northern parts of scotland.

and then into wednesday, it looks like it's going to be the northern half of the country most prone to the showers once more. notice on some of our city forecasts, though, the sign of something wetter but also windier for thursday and friday. the key will be just how quickly this area of low pressure moves in. at the moment, we think it's going to be thursday. if it's delayed, thursday will be a drier day, and then we'll see that wet and windy weather arrive on friday. but certainly one thing to keep an eye on this week.

proceed with caution — the warning on the eve of a big step in lockdown easing. the changes tomorrow come as vaccinations are stepped up where cases of the indian variant are rising. i'm confident that we can take the step tomorrow, but we should all be careful about how we take that step. as some indoor mixing returns in england wales and scotland, we'll explain the risks and how to reduce them. also tonight: appeals for calm between israel and palestinians, but civilian casualties continue to rise. in lancashire, a suspected gas explosion destroys homes, killing a two—year—old.