A pressure group under the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Abia Pensioners Forum, has appealed to governor Alex Otti to fulfill his campaign promise to clear their arrears of pensions and gratuity, lamenting that many retirees have died waiting for the payment.
The State Coordinator of the Forum, Okey Kanu, said in Umuahia that the experience of the retirees is beyond expression as many cannot afford food or drugs, let alone bills and other financial commitments as a result.
Kanu wondered why governor Otti, who had roundly condemned former governor Okezie Ikpeazu for owing pensioners, during his political campaigns, decided to toe the same line more than three years into his administration.
He explained that the controversy arising from the agreement purportedly signed between the State chapter of NUP and the government, which the government relied on to claim it has cleared arrears of pensions, fraudulently forfeited the arrears, an inalienable statutory right of every worker.
The Coordinator said the arrears paid were the ones owed by governor Otti himself from June 2023, while the previous 60 months were not touched.
“The governor during his electioneering campaigns in 2015, 2019 and 2023, repeatedly and assuredly promised to clear the arrears of pensions and gratuity of Abia State pensioners if elected into office is no longer news.
“That as at May 2023, arrears of pensions were as high as 60 months, depending on the year of retirement, and that gratuity was officially paid last in the State as far back as 2002, are also no news,” Kanu said.
According to him, “99.9% of pensioners who retired before the inception of this administration in 2023, are still owed their arrears of pensions. What this administration paid in March 2024, was her own arrears from June, 2023 to March 2024, when she paid only half monthly pension.
“We hereby call on government to set up a judicial panel of enquiry to verify the alleged payment so that any pensioner who makes a false claim in this regard will go to prison.”