Our staff, not gazetted for pension, gratuity — Ebonyi CoE Provost

The Provost of Ebonyi State College of Education, Professor Benedict Mbam, on Thursday, said that the staff of the institution were not gazetted for the payment of pension and gratuity, therefore appealing to the Ebonyi State Government under Governor Francis Nwifuru to gazette the staff of the institution for the payment of pension and gratuity.

The provost made the appeal during a media interaction in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, noting that the institution has paid gratuity and pension to workers using Paris money totalling over N500 million in August 2019, adding that they have been unable to pay those who retired from September 2019.

He called on the Ebonyi State government to look into the issue of pension and gratuity so that retired staff can have something to fall back on.

He said, “Our challenges are in two folds; one is in the area of finance and the other is non-finance. Let me start with the non-financial part. Number one is retirement benefits. The joy of being a civil servant is when you retire, you retire with something to continue with your life, not to retire and go home hungry.

“So, this school has not been gazetted for pension and gratuity. The unions have been trying; they have been making moves, but it is yet to bear fruit. Pension and gratuity of staff are not guaranteed for now here. I told you that we got Paris money of over five hundred million naira and we used it to pay arrears of pension for those that retired a long time ago up to August 2019.

“From those that retired from September 2019 to date, they went home with nothing. So, in that area, we are still planning to meet with the government to help us gazette that so that when staff retire, they will have something to fall back on.”

In addition to the pension and gratuity concerns, Mbam discussed budget implementation challenges. He recognized the state government’s various projects but noted that not all approved budget items are executed. While the government has consistently provided salaries, he pointed out that the subvention does not cover the full salary amounts.

Mbam expressed appreciation for the government’s efforts but reiterated the need for full budget implementation for both capital and recurrent expenditures.

He said, “We still have the issue of budget implementation. We know that the state government has a lot of programmes; a lot of projects but not everything approved in the budget is implemented. The one the government implemented to the latest is that of payment of salaries. Though what they give as subvention does not pay one hundred per cent of salaries, it is regular, every month.

“We commend the government on that, but we still need what we requested in the budget for both capital and recurrent expenditure. We need to maintain our equipment, we need to pay imprest, we need to host governing council meetings, we need to pay severance allowances; in fact, a lot of things we need to do, and they are contained in the budget.

“But because of the big projects of government, they do not implement the budget one hundred per cent. We will still discuss with the government in that area and let them come and help us. We are lagging behind in that area.

“Sometimes, the management will stay for like two months without imprest. We have been buying fuel with our money; we buy small office equipment, and that is why we say we need all those things implemented in our budget. So, that is the area of paucity of funds,” Mbam said.