Labour urges Imo pensioners to ignore verification order

Monarchs canvass return to 1979 communities format
LABOUR leaders in Imo State have urged pensioners not to present themselves for another round of verification as directed by Governor Rochas Okorocha.

In a joint statement yesterday by Austin Chilapku for the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Paul Akalazu for the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and Augusta Ogini for the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), the organized labour described the exercise as “horrifying verification.”

According to the statement, in spite that it involves old and elderly people, the verification was conducted in 2011 and 2013 by the former commissioner for Internally Generated Revenue and Pension Matters.

It insisted that the retirees should be paid at least three months arrears out of the six months owed retired civil servants and 18 months for retired primary school teachers before government should request another exercise.

Accordingly, this will empower the pensioners to eat and take their drugs, and pay transport fare even to suffering another verification exercise. Adding that “the hungry and vulnerable civil pensioners should be taken as senior citizens,” it warned that any form of sanction against those on Grade Levels 13 and above would be resisted.

Meanwhile, the state’s Council of Ndi Eze has advocated a remodeling of the community government councils after the 1979 communities to make them more functional. 

Chairman of the council, Eze Samuel Ohiri, disclosed this development after their meeting with Governor Okorocha, stating that the introduction of community government councils is a revolution that ought to turn around the fortunes of the communities but lamented that it has not fully achieved that noble objective.

He noted that it bothers the government and traditional rulers, who are captains of the CGC, adding, however, that they believe something needed to be done on the composition of the CGC in terms of modifying its size for better productivity. 

In view of this, they agreed to revert to the 1979 communities format, stating that when these communities pool resources and energy, meaningful development would set in.