Retirees in Abia, on Wednesday, made a disclosure that their members die in their tens every month due to non-payment of pension and gratuities.
This disclosure came as the pensioners protested the non-payment of 38 months’ pensions and gratuities to them by the Abia State Government.
Protesting as concerned Abia pensioners, the aged and tired retirees said they embarked on two days of state-wide protest to demand the payment of their 38 months of pension arrears, 20 years of non-payment of gratuities and non-harmonisation of pensions from 1998 to 2010 by the state government.
Carrying placards with inscriptions like “Abia Pensioners: Non-payment of gratuity since 2020”, “Abia Pensioners: Our monthly payment for 38 months now” and “Let Governor Ikpeazu cut his security vote and pay pensioners”, among others said “but for the sake of the state Commissioner for Finance, Dr Aham Uko, the monthly death rate of between 10 and 15 would have been more.
They expressed their confidence in Dr Aham Uko who they said has on several occasions come to their help and thanked him with prayers to God over his disposition to pensioners in the state.
According to them, “We have been dehumanized and subjected to unimaginable suffering as our death toll ranges between 10 to 15 old pensioners every month.”
The coordinator of the group, Chief Emeka Okezie said even when they were paid, it was a quarter of their salaries, adding “we have no money to buy drugs, especially our diabetic and hypertensive pensioners”.
“We have children to look after, especially those in the universities. We are retired and don’t have any work to do. We are only looking up to God and don’t know where we are heading to. We are asking the state government to help us before we all die,” he said.
Addressing the pensioners on behalf of the state government, the State Commissioner of Finance, Dr Aham Uko expressed his concern and that of the state government over their plight, blaming it on the prevalent “economic downturn” facing the world which Nigeria has been grappling with as a nation.
He disclosed that a further challenge with them is the discovery of 4, 422 irregular names and non-pensioners in their payroll, stating that this has been causing the state government the sum of N6billion to the fake pensioners.
“We have been removing the names to enable us to pay the real pensioners. We have to make sure we extricate them from the genuine pensioners and we cannot pay the non-pensioners,” the finance boss said.
Even as some of the pensioners publicly said they have received an alert that Wednesday, the commissioner pleaded with them to exercise patience as any delay in payment was a result of the bank interchange network, assuring that in less than two days, they would receive their alerts.
Uko further lamented, “I don’t sleep each time I remember your plight. It gives me discomfort”, and further assured that the state government is working with their leadership to resolve any issues on that.
Relating his experience as a retired civil servant in Abia, one of the pensioners who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Aham Uko is the type of Commissioner states and federal government need.
“He works with human face and feelings and has the interest of pensioners at heart.
“The little we have received was at his insistence and doggedness. God bless him.”
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