A group known as Abia Pensioners’ Forum, has implored Gov. Alex Otti, to listen to the cry of pensioners by revisiting and rescinding the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed with their leaders.
The pressure group, which is within the Abia State chapter of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), made the appeal at a press conference on Wednesday in Umuahia.
The group urged the governor to pay pensioners in state their legitimate retirement benefits.
The group’s Coordinator, Mr. Okey Kanu, briefed newsmen on the true position of the governor’s claim that his administration had defrayed the arrears of pensions left behind by his predecessors.
Kanu implored the governor to pay them the balance of their pension arrears and gratuity, which would be duly calculated and published.
According to him, it is right before God and man as a labourer deserves his wage.
He said that before the MoA, many of their members were cumulatively owed up to 60 months, while the last payment of gratuity was in 2002.
Kanu, who was flanked by other members of the steering committee, commended Otti for the regular payment of their monthly pension since April and his developmental strides in the state.
Recall that Gov. Otti had in April announced that the state had paid all the pension arrears owed to at least 12,500 pensioners, dating back to 2014.
The governor had disclosed that over N9 billion was spent from the N10 billion set aside by the government to offset the accumulated pension arrears.
But while the announcement elicited excitement among the state retirees, the joy was however shortlived when most of them complained that what they received was a far cry from their expectation.
Kanu said that the governor was free to liquidate the balance of the retirement benefits by instalments, if the government could not do so in one swoop.
He said that the state government and NUP officials had signed an MoA, in which their arrears of pension and gratuity were forfeited to the government.
“Even if His Excellency didn’t finish the payment within his tenure, pensioners would have still loved him.
“Reason being that they understand that these arrears were not accumulated by his administration, as he came on a rescue mission.
“To tell pensioners that these arrears are no longer existent sequel to MoA is highly devastating and unacceptable to them,” Kanu said.
He disclosed that the minutes of the enlarged NUP meeting of January 11, referred to by the government in the MoA, showed that the issue of gratuity was not mentioned.
Kanu, a legal practitioner, insisted that what was deliberated on was the issue of pension arrears.
He said: “In effect, signing the MoA containing the forfeiture of our gratuity in addition was ultra vires to NUP officers, hence not binding on our members.
“To date, the MoA has remained a secret document to our members.
“We gathered that the state NUP officials had written two letters to the State Government, requesting a meeting to discuss gray areas of the MOA.
“One of such gray areas, according to the NUP officials, is that the issue of gratuity was never part of their negotiation and agreement with the government.”
Kanu said that the arrears of pension and gratuity were not negotiable “because they are personal, statutory and their legitimate entitlements in the service”.
He contended that gratuity was savings from their salary, while they were in service and was supposed to be paid to them immediately on retirement.
According to him, it is unfathomable how the State Government can negotiate with vulnerable pensioners, who are deprived and famished over the years.
The coordinator reiterated that one basic approach the forum adopted was not to be confrontational with the government, but to be on their knees and plead.
He said that the forum had written passionate letters on the subject matter, to the governor and other prominent individuals and offices, including the 2023 Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi.
