Abia Pensioners Remind Governor Otti of Their Twelve Colleagues Who Died as a Result of Hardship and Beg him for the Outstanding 48-Month Arrears.

Aggrieved pensioners from various State Parastatals in Abia have formally appealed to Governor Alex Otti for the payment of their outstanding retirement pension arrears, which amount to 48 months. The pensioners, affiliated with the Joint Action Committee (JAC), reported that twelve of their peers have succumbed to poverty and hardship as a result of the non-payment. In a letter addressed to Governor Otti, the pensioners emphasized that they are owed 48 months of pension arrears. They reminded the governor of his commitment to enhance their welfare and highlighted the significant role they played in his election as governor in 2023. The parastatals affected by this situation include the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia (BCA), Abia Newspapers, Abia State Housing and Property Development Corporation, the Arts Council, and the Umuahia Capital Development Authority (UCDA). The letter, which was made public on Friday and co-signed by Comrade Chinkwe Ikenyi and Chief Ikoro John Ikoro, the group’s chairman and secretary respectively, urged Governor Otti to take immediate action to alleviate their suffering by settling the outstanding pension arrears. The elder statesmen detailed the owed pension arrears as follows: “BCA Umuahia - 12 months, Abia Newspapers - 9 months, The Housing Corporation - 9 months, Arts Council - 9 months, and UCDA - 9 months.” They expressed that the failure to disburse their pensions has resulted in severe hardship for their members, noting that since the cessation of pension payments in November 2023, the BCA has lost eight members due to financial constraints affecting their ability to afford basic necessities such as food and medical care. The Abia Newspapers have similarly experienced tragedy, having lost four members. This unfortunate trend has been observed across the other parastatals, which have also reported the loss of various members since the abrupt halt of pension payments, the pensioners lamented. They informed the governor that the common justification provided by relevant government agencies for the non-payment is the lack of verification. However, it is evident that there seem to be deliberate manipulations by government officials aimed at postponing and ultimately halting all initiatives intended to facilitate the verification of pensioners from various parastatals, as if the process of verification were an insurmountable challenge. They recalled that Governor Otti had previously informed the public during media briefings that the government possessed sufficient funds to disburse to the pensioners, asserting that the money was available in the bank. He further indicated that the only requirement was to verify the pensioners involved. It is important to emphasize that some parastatals had already undergone successful verification under the direction of Mrs. Charity Ukonu, as mandated by the government. Yet, when it came time to process payments for these parastatals, the very government that initiated the verification obstructed the process without justification, continuing to withhold the funds owed to these parastatals and exacerbating their plight by denying them their rightful pension benefits. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the Accountant General has repeatedly failed to honor the agreement made with the pensioners, in conjunction with the Head of Service (H.O.S), which stipulated that following the Pensions Board Verification in September 2024, the pensioners would receive at least one month’s payment to alleviate their financial difficulties, with the arrears to be settled in the subsequent month of October 2024. In a further attempt to maintain control over these pensioners, the Accountant General has returned the Authorization Letters submitted by the Pensions Board on three separate occasions, just as the time for payment approached. This time, she asserted that payment would not be made unless the pensioners were fully verified. It is important to highlight that she was able to disburse payments to only four pensioners from Abia Newspapers, none from BCA, two from the Arts Council, four from U.C.D.A, and thirty from the Housing Corporation. Subsequently, the Government issued another notice for parastatals to undergo a further verification process, with some parastatals not receiving the necessary codes for this verification. All parastatals that have successfully completed their online verification and submitted their verification certificates to the Pensions Board, which in turn forwarded them to the Attorney General’s office, have yet to receive their payments as of now. In light of what appears to be a series of disappointments aimed at prolonging the payment process for pensioners—many of whom are grappling with life-threatening issues such as hunger, health problems associated with aging, and even mortality—we earnestly present the following requests to Your Excellency to help us endure in God’s Own State and foster a New Abia. We urge you to expedite the completion of the verification process for those parastatals that have not yet received their codes for verification. We also request the immediate payment of all outstanding pension arrears for these parastatals, as we were receiving our payments regularly prior to the emergence of this verification issue. We anticipate receiving our pension arrears this month, which would enable us to settle our debts, restore order in our lives, and recover from the financial hardships and disruptions we have faced over the past year due to the Government's delays. We respectfully remind Your Excellency that pensioners from parastatals, along with other pensioners, played a crucial role in supporting the establishment of this Administration and continue to hope for the full realization of your commitments to improve the circumstances of pensioners, who have always been and will remain your steadfast partners in progress in Abia State.