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Imo State pensioners reject ‘endless’ verifications

By Charles Ogugbuaja
15 July 2015   |   11:14 pm
IMO State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) have given the state government 14 days to pay the backlog on 18 months pensions to retired teachers and six months to others.

IMO State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) have given the state government 14 days to pay the backlog on 18 months pensions to retired teachers and six months to others.

They also rejected a new round of verification exercise under the joint venture between the state and labour unions. In a statement in Owerri on Tuesday by the NUT state chairman, G. U. Ezeji, the retirees said they had been verified, condemning this “delay tactics” in paying them.

“We reject this aspect of their agreement, it is unrealistic,” the statement read. “We see the exercise as delay tactics and further attempt to punish the senior citizens.

“The government should source fund and commence payment through the Community Government Council (CGC) and in the process fish out ‘ghost pensioners’ if they really exist.”

It continued: “Since the April election, the pensioners have not been paid even for a month, bringing the arrears to civil pensioners to five months, and six months to many whose January 2015 cheques bounced.

“If you compare the present six months to the three months he paid in July 2011, you will agree that we are now worse off than the position in 2011. The 18 months arrears we are talking about covers only state and council pensioners, and it is peculiar to Imo State.”

Lamenting that retired teachers have not received pay in 18 months, the retirees insisted that the arrears should be paid in six installments while council pensioners should also be paid in two installments of three months each.

“We are giving the Imo State Government 14 days notice, starting from July 13 to 27, to treat us as senior citizens covered by the law of this country to live a life without impediments,” they stated. “We will summon the state council of the union for its mandate if government fails to act fast.”

They regretted that several efforts to meet Governor Rochas Okorocha failed, adding: “We also requested the governor to grant union executives audience on the best way to resolve the lingering problems, but till date our letter has neither been acknowledged nor the audience granted.”

However, Okorocha promised to clear all salary arrears to both active workers and retirees, regretting that paucity of funds had hindered the effort for long.

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